sleepless nights
by missus wishus69
Summary: Sasuke's returned to the village and Naruto is the first one to know the changed Uchiha and his secrets. They both know that in forgiveness and understanding comes love but after all Sasuke's done will Naruto be able to give him the love he needs?
1. Chapter 1: Homecoming

Anxiety, you know it. That torturous feeling that you forgot something. That something somewhere is going horribly wrong because of you or has gone wrong by your hand. It eats away at you until you're nothing left but a scatter – brained pile of mush.

Sasuke Uchiha knew this feeling well.

Cold jagged stone dug into his knees which had long since gone numb from being sat on for so long. Sasuke twitched slightly by reflex causing the chains that held his wrists high above his head to rattle violently, hmmm he would have to get that looked at. His now long dark hair tickled his face but the awkward way he was sitting prevented him from brushing it out of the way. The man could do nothing but sit and wait for the sound of footsteps at his prison door with silent pleading hopes that they'd soon let him go free.

Not even a month had passed since the capture of Sasuke Uchiha but to he who was forced into the confined space with nothing but his thoughts and the soft dripping of a leaky roof it seemed like an eternity. There was no human contact there, save for the Anbu who came by every morning and noon to feed him but they didn't talk much, they mostly ignored him. Of course there had been a time when sasuke would not think twice about busting someone's ass if they dared not pay him attention but it was his brother's will that he return to the village. Now I don't know about you but I'd think they wouldn't let him back in if he went around killing people all willy – nilly.

Itachi. The bravest man sasuke had ever known and that was a serious understatement. Sasuke was certain his aniki had let him win their final battle to ensure his hatred and eventual returning to the village though he had not counted on Madara knowing his whole story. He knew of itachi's strife and it pained him to the point of tears that he had hated his brother so much for so long on the basis of a lie.

He needed to speak with someone – anyone!

The raven wouldn't even have a problem holding a conversation with the hokage and he hated her! Honestly anything was better than being left to his own thoughts. Constantly thinking about if they would let him live or rot in their jail cell. If his friends would accept him as a changed man or give him what he deserved . . . a cold shoulder. Sasuke couldn't stand the questions any longer!

'Creeek!'

Sasuke's ears perked up when he heard his cell door being opened up. Not having sensed that someone was there he figured he must be slipping.

Soft footsteps got subtly louder as they got closer to him.

'it's a woman,' sasuke thought, a man's steps would be louder, 'I hope it's not – '

"time to get up sasuke – kun!"

The reven frowned and gritted his teeth.

'damn that tsunade, she sent ino for me!' she had obviously not changed her opinion of the ex leaf nin over the past five years.

He was grateful to the blonde spazzball though because as soon as she stopped talking sasuke's arms dropped to his sides and the chains rattled to the ground. Immediately he brushed his hair out of his eyes to physically see who he was dealing with.

Well, ino had obviously grown while he was away. She looked like a woman now and if sasuke had not been so sure he was gay he may have contemplated asking her out.

The girl reached down to help him up but sasuke batted her hands away. He could get up himself, he was not a cripple!

Shakey hands on his knees, sasuke pushed himself up onto his feet.

'surprised I've gotten this far . . .'

Ino had reached the door by the time sasuke was up. He took a step foreward only to stumble and trip overhimself, the blonde giggled from the door, thinking the sight charming.

"shut up." He ordered before successfully making it across the room to where ino was waiting for him.

There were anby waiting for them to escort them to stunade most likely. Sasuke recognized one of them as kakashi – sensei but he said nothing about it.

Neither he nor ino nor any of the anbu spoke a word as they traveled. Sasuke was forced to shield his eyes from the harsh light of the hallway, causing him to step on feet and bump into people, mumbling incoherent apologies.

Finaly the awkward silence subsided when the party arrived at the main office of the hokage's tower. Kakashi, or so sasuke had assumed, opened the door for him and roughly shoved him inside.

"go in and sit down," the lazy voice droned, yea, that was defiantly kakashi – sensei.

Sasuke raised a brow questioningly. Were they really going to let an S – rank criminal sit alone with their hokage?

"aren't you going to cuff me?"

"unnecisary," one replied, " your chakra has been blocked you are no longer a threat."

He was sure they still knew he was still dangerous regaurdless but did as he was told.

The hokage did not show up immediately, sasuke was sure that this was purely to show him that she did not care what happened to him.

Finaly, after an hour or so of watching a spider climb across the arm of his chair tsunade strode confidently through the door flaunting her large er . . . bust. Geez! Would it kill the woman to wear a bra? She calmly sat down at her desk and adjusted her papers, not even willing to acnowlege that he was there.

"well?" sasuke growled through gritted teeth, just because he wanted to rejoin the village didn't mean he had to be patient about it! "why am I here?"

Tsunade looked up as though she had just realized he was there.

"you tell me. I know it was by no spring of faith that the ambu captured you. What are you planning uchiha?"

Sasuke had to give her credit. She was smarter than he thought she was. Sighing, he looked her directly in the eye to effectively get his point across.

"I want to be a citizen of konoha."

The lady hokage had been shocked by his request and pressed him relentlessly for details, sasuke told her that he merely missed his old life. The raven was not about to tell the woman his real reason for coming back was because itachi had told him to, that might seem a bit hypocritical. Besides, sasuke wasn't there to pour his heart and soul out, he was an uchiha and a proud one at that. He would withhold as much information as he felt necisary.

"it's settled then. Sasuke uchiha you are once again a citizen of konohagakure under the stipulations that the condemned does not take part in _any_ ninja – like activity and shows promise in re – integrating into society. The condemned must also have a jounin escort for the time being until I say it is no longer necisary. And that jounin will be – "

Sasuke's jaw dropped and his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates in shock and even a bit of fear.

'you've got to be kidding me!'


	2. Chapter 2: Meaningful Reunions

Chapter 2

I must remind all ye who read mah stories that all the characters I write about are the sole properties of their creators and owners and not me (unless they are OC) sadly T-T, please and thank you for not killing/suing me :3

X

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

Piles and piles of thick blandly colored books were stacked over every inch of Naruto's small one bed and bath apartment and he'd read through most of them cover to cover! Despite popular belief that the knucklehead ninja was just that. He like to read, good thing too because one had to read and memorize quite a bit if one wishes to become Hokage. Tsunade-baa-sama had been training him non-stop for the past three years to be as great a leader as his father before him and it seemed that Naruto, due to his tremendous strength, may turn out to be even better!

Silently the blonde turned the page of his latest text book "the financial history of the hidden leaf." Who the hell would write such a novel? It was so dry! Of course Naruto was no wiz with money so he would have to hire someone to deal with this for him anyway. Just as he became enthralled with the endless numerals and complex equations for this and that his boring bland book bliss was interrupted by a shockingly loud knock on his door.

Future Rokudaime Naruto Uzumaki got up and groggily made his way to the door. Peeping though the see-hole he found out that all that was there was solid pink.

'It's Sakura-chan!' Naruto cheered.

Alright, so maybe the blonde didn't have a crush on the Haruno girl anymore but he could still feign it couldn't he? Especially when it was to keep his peers from finding out that he didn't like women at all.

Naruto flung open the door and extended a warm greeting to his pink haired friend only to find that something was horribly wrong.

Sakura was crying; full on into her hands bawling. The blonde, obvious to what had truly brought her to his door, assumed that her boyfriend Neji had dumped her and invited her inside. Naruto coaxed her with cherries, chocolate, cake, hell he even tried ramen! But nothing would get the girl to stop crying or even to stop and tell him what was going on.

"C'mon Sakura-chan!" he whined, "won't you at least come inside? The neighbors are starting to get pissed!" they'd all come out into the hall to see what all the commotion was about. But the girl still refused to budge.

"Nooooo!" she wailed, " we 'hic' have to 'sniff' go now! 'hic' 'hic' 'sniffle' Sasuke!"

Naruto stared for a moment, wide eyed at the cherry blossom. Had she said Sasuke? While crying? Oh, that could mean an unending number of things! Sasuke was back, or attacking, or still missing, or dead; he didn't want to think about that last one . . . Naruto didn't care though; he wanted to know what Sakura meant about Sasuke!

Without warning or a moment to spare Naruto had hoisted the girl into his arms and took off down the hall, not even bothering to close and lock his door. There was only one person who would know what was going on. Tsunade-baa-sama and he was determined to get to her as fast as was humanly possible, even faster still since Kyuubi had lent its power.

Ah yes, Kyuubi. Naruto had just recently learned to manifest its power into his own. Months of training with uncle bee paid off when Naruto was finally able to defeat his duple-ganger at the waterfall of truth. Now he could freely use the beast's power mixed with his own (in proportion of course) even being able to hold a conversation with the fox.

'Where are you going in such a hurry Kit? You're usin' up all my chakra.' Kyuubi had the awful habit of calling the Jinchuriki 'Kit' on a regular basis. This was a name Naruto despised.

'Shut up and give me more speed ya damn fox!'

'Only if you tell me~' Kyuubi teased. Naruto growled at it in mild annoyance.

'Sasuke might be back now hurry up!'

Fortunately Kyuubi did what it was told and picked up the pace a bit for its host who did not stop until he reached the door to the Hokage's office. He set Sakura on her feet and she whipped her eyes and thanked him before turning and leaving. Yea, Naruto knew something was wrong. In normal circumstances she would have beat him up for touching her and now she was thanking him?

The blonde wasted no time in throwing the doors open unannounced.

"Baa-sama?" he called, "is everything alright?"

"Oh, there you are Naruto, just the idiot I wanted to see. Come in." she was sitting at her desk calmly with a slight smile on her face. Naruto took a step forward.

"Baa-sama, I'm here because Sakura came to my apartment and she was crying so I asked her what was wrong and she said something about Sasuke –"

"Yes, I know what she told you," Tsunade interrupted, "I was the one who sent her."

A grin grew on Naruto's face until it was ear to ear, "then you have information about Sasuke?"

"We are no longer going to search for Sasuke Uchiha."

Naruto's face dropped, no more searching for Sasuke? What were they going to do now, kill him? Hunt him down and kill him? Blow him up and kill him?

"W-why not?"

"Because, dobe. I'm not missing."

The only other chair in the room spun to face the blonde. In said chair sat a neat and trim Sasuke who still held that undeniable glare. Both boys for a moment sat there, staring at each other wondering what the other would do next. Naruto was sure Sasuke was going to continue to insult him and tell him he was worthless like old times but he was pleasantly surprised.

Sasuke got up from his seat and cautiously approached his old friend; his expression stayed the same as he held out a hand to the blond. The raven grabbed Naruto's hand from his side and shook it, even going so far as to bow a little to the man.

"I'm here to stay."

Naruto didn't know what to think, here he was, the man he'd been looking the world over for since he was thirteen years old was standing here in front of him speaking as though nothing bad had ever happened! Did he really think that Naruto was going to forgive and forget that easily? O hell no!

Swatting Sasuke's hand aside it was Naruto's turn to deliver the glare and it was far more intense than the Uchiha's.

"What makes you think I want to forgive you so easily?" but he was getting a bit ahead of himself.

"The boy didn't ask for forgiveness, not yet anyway." Tsunade said, both men had actually forgotten that she was there. "The only reason I'm letting him stay in my office is because I wanted him to be here when I told you that he's going to live in your house."

Suddenly Naruto paused, had she said that she was forcing that backstabbing bastard to live with him? After all, it's not like Sasuke tried to kill him, beat up his friends, ignored him at every turn, and broke his heart. Oh wait, that's exactly what he did!

"No! Why the hell would you tell him that without even asking me about it? I'm not living anywhere with that asshole! For all I know he's going to murder me in my sleep or something!"

"I'm still here you know." Sasuke droned, crossing his arms in disgust. Naruto suddenly turned on him, he was pissed.

"If I cared that you were still here I wouldn't call you an asshole you mutha-fuckin' prick ASSHOLE!" if Tsunade had not been there in the room with them naruto most certainly would have beat the crap out of the Uchiha and if Tsunade had been a bit weaker he would have done it with her in the room.

"Hold on now, Naruto, calm down!" when neither of the arguing men herd the old woman she slammed her fist into the desk, shattering it into a million tiny splinters.

"Shut the hell up!"

Both boys stared fearfully at their superior hoping she wouldn't do to them what she'd done to her desk.

Tsunade glared at her student.

"Naruto, I told Sasuke he could stay with you because no one else will take him. If he were to be housed with any other Shinobi they would probably kill him whether it was against direct orders or not." Lady Hokage paused, letting her words sink in. "you don't have to look at him, you don't have to talk to him, you don't even have to feed him! I just want you to let him sleep in your home until he is stable enough to have his own." By this time the blonde had come to his senses. Finally able to see what Tsunade was getting at he gulped and nodded, there was no saying he wasn't nervous.

Tsunade continued, "the only thing I want you to do out of the ordinary is make sure he isn't using chakra and escort him to and from work every day."

"That wasn't part of the deal," Sasuke interrupted, "you didn't say anything about a job." He'd done his best to ignore Naruto's insulting outburst but this was bullshit.

Smiling evilly Tsunade grinned at Sasuke, "oh? Didn't I mention that?"

"No."

"Well, since you asked I signed you up as a teacher's aid at the ninja academy. You will be grading papers, getting snack for your kids and playing battle dummy during recess."

"Sonofa bit-"

"You have your orders; now get out of my office." Tsunade moved them away and before he could say anything else Sasuke was dragged out the door by his 'roomy'. He flipped off the Hokage before he was out the door.

X

"Don't go in my room, touch my medicine cabinet, eat my food, sit on my couch or bring people over without asking and don't even _think_ about touching my bookshelf!" Naruto screamed at his 'guest' the man had already decided he wasn't going to take any of Sasuke's bullshit. For years Sasuke had been in charge so to say and now, since it was Naruto's turn he was going to take full advantage of his newfound authority.

Sasuke walked right past him and flopped down on the couch.

"What did I _just_ say?"

Glancing up at the blonde from the corner of his eye, Sasuke snorted a laugh before returning his gaze to the wall.

"We both know you don't mean that Naruto."

The blonde was shocked, 'Did he just call me Naruto?'

He moved to sit next to Sasuke, looking the raven in the eye.

"You're serious about doing this aren't you?"

The Uchiha merely sat proudly with his arms crossed not saying a word. Sasuke was too proud. He didn't ask for a place to live, he could just go back to _his_ home and he didn't ask for a job, he could just become a bounty-hunter or something, they'd given him all that and therefore they showed that they still cared. As far as he was concerned he still held the power. . . . Assumed.

Naruto frowned, same old Sasuke. Still not a one for conversation, it's not like he expected anything different, once a prick always a prick.

"C'mon Teme, if you don't want me to kick you out you're going to talk to me –"

"Look, I'm sorry alright?" Sasuke growled through gritted teeth.

What? Had Naruto herd right? Sasuke just got finished saying that he was sorry for the first time in his life and to him! He may really mean it, after five whole years of running from himself and hurting his friends he was finally sorry for his actions. But Sasuke actually said sorry!

"W-what?"

Taking this as disbelief that he _could_ do it, Sasuke huffed and stood abruptly from the couch and made for the door.

"W-wait! Where are you going?" Naruto yelled after him, the blond meant to follow but the door was roughly slammed in his face.

"Out!"

To be left standing all alone in his living room was not what Naruto had expected and he would have gone with the man had he not been so paralyzed by a multitude of things. First off was Sasuke's behavior. When they were kids the raven wouldn't think twice about beating the shit out of Naruto to prove his point but now . . . he was apologizing. (Perhaps he was just afraid of lady Tsunade, Naruto couldn't blame him there). And second was Sasuke's dedication. Sure he had been dedicated to achieving the death of his brother, which Naruto assumed had been accomplished since he was home now, but that was an evil ambition which was what Sasuke was good at. The raven was doing his best so far from what Naruto had seen to fit back in, at least around him. And the final thing that caught Naruto off guard about Sasuke was his looks! Of course he still had that same duck-butt-hair that made Naruto want to go 'WTF? ' but he also had a whole new outfit, one that Naruto hoped he wouldn't get rid of anytime soon. It was the same white shirt blue sweats that he had been wearing the last time Naruto saw him, now Sasuke didn't wear an undershirt beneath his white one, giving Naruto a nice view of the man's porcelain hairless chest. How tight the purple rope around Sasuke's waist was accentuated just how lean he really was and it was just . . . all around sexy.

As Naruto listened to the angry footsteps of Sasuke disappear down the hall he felt his face grow hotter in realization that he truly was an idiot. Sighing, the blonde slowly made his way back to his desk where he resumed his previously stated task of reading 'the financial history . . .'

'Page 327, many authors stress that 'all that glitters is not gold'-'

'Yea,' Naruto thought, 'and I suck at handling all of it!'

Author's note: please don't be mad at me for making Naruto a bit of a bitchy bitch, it just seemed like a good idea at the time! And to my buddy _Mystic . . ._ ITACHI UCHIHA IS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD! :3


	3. Chapter 3: Coping Methods

**Disclaimer: I do not own naruto or anything affiliated with it… sadly.**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 3: coping methods

Sasuke had been gone far too long.

After the man stormed out on Naruto the blonde had miraculously accrued enough of an attention span to finish his 'homework', make dinner and eat it, watch television, and take a nap. Sasuke had not called or returned home. Part of Naruto was relieved to be apart from the raven but his conscious told him that something was wrong.

'Someone might try to kill him.' The words of his mentor rang in Naruto's ears. He suddenly froze eyes wide in horror.

'I let Sasuke out on his own. In a city full of shinobi. Most of who would want to kill him. And Tsunade-baa-sama put **me** in charge of him!' "Shit!"

Naruto was off the couch immediately, out the door and out into the crowded streets of a Konoha Friday night.

Blonde hair bobbed around in the sea of people hunting frantically for its chicken's ass counterpart, but then Naruto froze where he was… he didn't know where Sasuke would be!

In all his time knowing the raven he'd never followed Sasuke anywhere, save his house of course but that was a different story, so of all the places in the whole village (which was freaking huge by the way) he had no idea where to look to find anyone, let alone the proffesionally elusive Uchiha.

First of all Sasuke wasn't a perv or so Naruto assumed, so there was no reason for him to look through the red light district or anything…

Naruto was pretty sure the boy wasn't suicidal ... yet... so he wouldn't need to check rooftops or the top of the great stone faces for his roomie.

'Oh!'

One thing he was, though, Naruto remembered, was a drinker. He was sure Sasuke thought no one knew but it was a bit more apparent than the raven had thought. The boy didn't hide the smell very well and when he had a hangover one would have to be an imbecile to not notice since he beat the hell out of way more people than usual when he was. Since they were ten Sasuke had turned to the bottle for 'help' Naruto assumed it was when dealing with the death of his family became increasingly hard, but Naruto wouldn't know anything about that.

Maybe it made him feel better… he wasn't about to pretend that he knew what Sasuke was going through. Naruto frowned; he would have to do something about that some time soon. The blonde wracked his brain a little while longer for a place Sasuke might be hiding but there was nowhere else.

It was settled, he was in Tanzakou town at a bar.

Naruto openly face-palmed earning some strange looks from passersby, Tanzakou town! There are hundreds if not thousands of bars everywhere you look, there was no way he was going to find Sasuke there!

Frowning, the blonde glanced around through the throngs of people. From one of the establishments came a strangled shriek and a "You motherless piece o-!"

Hm, that sounded like Sasuke. Naruto turned on his heel and strolled over to the door, he might as well start there, the night was stil young. The line was around the block but this did not concern Naruto Uzumaki in the slightest, as he approached the scary looking bouncer he received a murderous glare. He tried to bypass the man only for a meaty hand to shove him back.

"Whoa there shrimp, you isn't getting' in there. You gotta wait in line like ev'ry one else."

"Oh do I?" Naruto said with a sly smirk. He reached around to his back pocket and the bouncer flinched away, probably thinking he had a gun but what he really had was a simple plastic identification card. The man gave him a questioning look when he flashed it, most likely because of the odd photo. Naruto was had been playfully flipping off the camera when Lady Tsunade slapped him and the camera flashed. That image should give you a pretty good laugh. ;)

"Take a closer look at the 'occupation' line." The bouncer leaned in and took a second to read before he flinched back again, this time whirling around and ripping the door open behind him. The man bowed as Naruto passed him.

"My apologies Rokudaime-sama." Naruto nodded and entered the club where the smell of booze and prostitutes slapped him in the face then proceeded to beat the shit out of him until he could no longer smell it.

The lights were dimmed and music blaring but the screaming he heard before was still audible not too far off at the bar. Naruto shoved his way through the crowd of sweaty grinding bodies to the fight; before he was even close enough to see faces he could see the fluffy black hair.

'Definitely Sasuke.'

'**Crack!**' a chair was cracked to splinters over the other man's head by an enraged Uchiha screaming profane naughty words while punching and kicking with all his drunken might.

Naruto sighed as Sasuke was falcon punched into the bar and coughed up blood all over the front of his white beater, he would have to wash that for the raven in some cold water as soon as they got home. The other man kneed Sasuke in the chin then grabbed him by the hair and punched him in the face.

'Okay! Time to step in!' Naruto decided that Sasuke had gotten enough of what he deserved and bounded ahead and bitch-slapped the guy away from his friend. While the thug regained his composure Naruto helped Sasuke to his feet and he, in turn swatted Naruto away and proclaimed though his words were still very much slurred.

"Git yer… handsofme! Der… freezing!"

As the blonde brushed his friend off the thug got up from the ground and lunged at Naruto, ready for a fight but he kept him at an arm's length. He didn't have time for this.

"Back up and calm down if you don't want me to kill you." his dangerous low voice somehow calmed the beast and the thug grumbled some inaudiable nonsense disappeared back into the crowd, he hadn't wanted to fight in the first place. 'Wow that was lucky.'

He turned back around to get Sasuke out the door but he was already gone. Incredibly distraught, Naruto whirled around a multitude of times before finally spotting Sasuke back at the bar loudly striking up a conversation with the bartender. He was still ordering drinks.

Angrily, Naruto grabbed him by the collar and pulled him off his stool as he still gripped a bottle of straight whiskey in his fist. Sasuke grumbled some profanity at the blonde but he was paid no mind as Rokuaime dragged him out into the street which was less populated now since it was the middle of the night. Eventually the raven was able to stand on his own two feet and walk along-side Naruto who still held his hand, they were almost home and Sasuke's cheeks still harbored a tint of pink.

'Still drunk.' Naruto thought sadly, he had been looking forward to talking to Sasuke about his problem but that wasn't going to happen now. He subconsciously squeezed the Uchiha's hand tighter in his causing Sasuke to squeal and giggle like a schoolgirl. This incredibly unnatural sound coming from the Uchiha causing Naruto to stifle his laughter with a snort.

"Oooooh! Looks like sumwun li~kes meeee!" Sasuke giggled and laid his head on the blonde's shoulder and closed his eyes.

Naruto blushed, thinking that it was odd when the Uchiha giggled and stretched the collar of his shirt looking away, it wasn't like sasuke could see him due to his lack of sense or anything else at the moment but this did not matter to Naruto. Suddenly he was worried that Sasuke would think that his breath stunk or he would notice that Naruto hadn't combed his hair that day or god forbid he'd see that shade of red covering his face and neck.

"Shut up Sasuke, you're drunk. You don't know what you're saying." He leaned the still giggling Sasuke up against the wall while he fumbled his keys out his pocket in order to get Sasuke into bed and away from anymore booze. He also needed to find a way to get the bottle of forgotten whiskey out of Sasuke's hand.

The two men stumbled inside, tripping over the couch on their way to Naruto's room and in the midst of the struggle Naruto was able to safely set the bottle on the entable next to his couch. Moving to the bedroom the blonde decided that since this was a 'special occasion' Sasuke would be residing there until he was well. Speaking of the raven, through their journey home he had several times gripped Naruto's collar in an attempt to kiss the blonde, though his attempts had been thwarted time after time. Naruto managed to sit Sasuke on the bed and get his bloody shirt off him without the raven thinking Naruto was trying to strip him.

"Alright, lay down and sleep this thing off," Naruto was mostly talking to himself knowing that Sasuke had no idea what he was saying. "There's going to be a gatorade and a dramamine on the entable when you wake up. Goodnight Sasuke."

Naruto made his way to the door so he could go comfy up the couch enough to seep on but Sasuke called him back.

"Naruto, wait," his speech was no longer slurred leading the blonde to believe that he had somehow sobered up within the last ten minutes and rushed back to the bed to where Sasuke was sitting waiting for him.

"Y-yea?" the blonde could have slapped himself silly for letting his voice crack like that, he even expected Sasuke to laugh at him but the Uchiha was as stoic as ever as he looked Naruto in the eye, waiting for the right time to speak.

Sasuke beckoned naruto closser with his finger and the Rokudaime, not being wise to his friend's antics leaned in, thinking that the man was opting to say something important. As he got closer to the raven Naruto gazed deeply into his eyes, hoping to be able to see some hint of what the raven was thinking before he actually said anything but there was nothing. No indication that Sasuke had anything on his mind at all and this puzzled Naruto.

"Sasuke, what- ?"

The raven lashed out and grabbed the collar of Naruto's shirt and jerked him forward, causing Naruto to fall on the bed and on top of Sasuke. His lip already connected with the other's who was frantically licking the blonde's lips begging and pleading to be let in.

Naruto inhaled sharpley and moaned when Sasuke shifted, bringing some much need friction to the hard on he didn't even remember getting. He moaned again as the Uchiha benieth him shoved his tongue down his throat and tugged at the hem of his pants lightly but just enough for Naruto to know what the raven wanted.

He'd gotten so caught up in Sasuke's kiss, the sweet musky smell of his skin and the electricity that ran up his spine everytime Sasuke touched him he had overlooked one minor detail. Sasuke had tricked him and was still drunk the pink tint had returned to his cheeks and his mouth tasted of stale whiskey, if he were able to remember this in the morning there was no doubt that Sasuke would make fun of him for letting a drunk man get the best of him. Suddenly Naruto leapt off of Sasuke to the other side of the room where his eyes stayed glued to Sasuke's erection that the raven was masaging through his pants and moaning Naruto's name as he did so, even though the subject of his dirty fantisies was still in the room.

Oh how he longed to go right back over to that bed and give Sasuke the Ride of his life, he always had, ever since they they were kids, as strange as that was. As he watched, Naruto's mind told him that going back over there was wrong, the other man was drunk and if they did anything would just dissapear somewhere again in the morning and never be heard from again. Sasuke didn't really want this, he probably would have been trying to take anyone right now if he were still on the street and if he were sober it bost certainly wouldn't have been Naruto who was the object of his affections.

"Naa~rutooo, why did you stop?" Sasuke's eyes had long since glazed over with lust, the blonde tried to not look into them lest he be sucked back into the deathly sexy hurricane that was Sasuke Uchiha and get himself into some real trouble. Inching towards the door Naruto shook his head, hoping to clear it of images of Sasuke writhing in pleasure benieth him.

"You're drunk and we aren't going to do that!" he hurried out the door, and locked it behind him, expecting the drunken Sasuke to try and break it down to get to him but as soon as he was out of the room he heard the loud sawing of Sasuke's snoring. He had fallen asleep. Naruto sighed and slid down the door onto his butt with a thud.

Naruto glanced down at the tent in his pants and groaned. Of course he had to be trapped in a one bedroom apartment with a drop dead georgeous tipsy Uchiha who was horny mind you! How he was to ever get through the night without finding himself back in bed with his cock wedged between sasuke's asscheeks he had no idea. The blonde slowly stood up and sauntered awkwardly off to the bathroom to take care of his... problem.

He could not wait until Sasuke had his own place!

**Author's ramblings: I'm so so so soo so soooo sorry about updating so late and for this chapter being all shitty and whatnot and that there was no mention of itachi in this chapter! *Bangs head into wall* I actually forgot I had a story to write -_- so this chapter was rushed and stupid but I PROMISE it will get better from here on out! Please review! I run on reviews! No reviews=no more story! (That means you **_**mystic**_**) So review review review!**


	4. Chapter 4: Memories, or Lack Thereof

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way shape or form.**

Sleepless nights

Chapter four

Memories, or Lack Thereof

Birds chirped their song outside the window and the few beams of light that shone through the blinds found their way to the whisker striped face of a certain blonde knucklehead, Uzumaki Naruto. As the sun rose higher in the sky the light shined in his eyes causing him to twitch and to finally to jolt awake. Yawning and streatching, the boy bounced a bit on his couch as he swung his legs over the side and sat up, he arched a golden brow in confusion. He had not remembered his couch being so comfortable, in fact Naruto didn't even remember falling asleep next to a window at all. The only thing that he remembered from the previous night was finishing off Sasuke's forgotten bottle of whiskey and passing out on the couch, but in hindsight that probably wasn't such a good idea.

Intent on checking to see if Sasuke was alright and sleeping soundly in the bedroom Naruto, still half asleep, pushed himself off of the couch and onto the soft carpeted-

_ 'Wait a minute... My living room doesn't have carpet...'_

Frantically the blonde rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and whirrled a round to take a look at the room he was in only to find that he was not in his living room at all but standing in the middle of his own bedroom. Sasuke lay exactly where Naruto remembered putting him before leaving, but did he really leave or was it just a dream? Had he come back to the room during the night and what of Sasuke? Had he, had they-

Naruto blushed profusely when he noticed that no boxers, or any other form of clothing concealed his naked body from the morning sun.

_'W-what happened last night?'_ And just like that, as if on cue Sasuke rolled over on his side, causing the blanket to slide down his pale neck and reaveal to the confused blonde porcelon skin now covered in bruises and the dark sheets covered in what looked like-

"Oh my _God_!"

Instinctively the blonde slapped a hand to his open mouth, muffling any other exclimations of horror that dared come out. He had slept with Sasuke! Had sex with the man he'd been craving since their first meeting and he missed it! The only thing that ran through his mind was that he had taken advantage of Sasuke, he was drunk, but then so was Sasuke and there was no way to know who innitiated what. There was one thing Naruto did know though, he must have been on top because there was not an ache or a pain in his body. At the thought of the frail dark haired man writhing in pain and pleasure benieth _him_, moaning _his _name and arching into _his_ touch the blonde blushed another ten shades of red and shook his head furiously needing to banish those thoughts from his mind for the moment.

Naruto knew he should make sure that Sasuke was alright and maybe find out if he remembered what had happened but he could not bring himself to move, there he stayed, frozen like a statue there staring at the sleeping raven mouth agape like a carp.

What if this got out? If Sasuke didn't keep this a secret and told everyone what he had done? There was no way he would be allowed the tittle of Rokudaime if Tsunade-baa-sama and the elders found out. his entire future was at stake!

Tears welled in the blonde's eyes as he watched Sasuke turn onto his back before finally opening his eyes. For a moment the raven shielded them from the sun and by the time his eyes had adjusted to the light Naruto was shaking, feelings of intense fear overtaking his body and keeping him from saying even a word when deep black eyes met with his light blue orbs. Sasuke looked Naruto up and down before opening his mouth to say something but closed it again and frowned.

The raven swung his legs over the side of the bed in preperation to get up and to ask Naruto why the hell he was watching him sleep... in the nude of all things, but the intense pain in his backside let him do no such thing.

'Urgh!'

Sasuke's knees gave out and he collapsed onto the floor next to the bed with a heavy 'Thud!', fists in tight balls pressed into the carpet and jaw set, determined to show no pain whatsoever though it killed him to do so.

As soon as Sasuke hit the ground Naruto was right beside him, slinging the Uchiha's arm over his shoulder in an attempt to help him back onto the bed but Sasuke would have none of it.

He batted Naruto to the side and tried to stand up on his own only to fall back to his knees from another jolt of pain up his spine. He threw a heated, panicked glare at Naruto and hissed through his teeth at the pain. Finally getting a good idea of what happened to him.

"Dobe, what did you do to me?" Naruto's eyes darted from side to side as he fidgeted trying to find a good lie that would satisfy Sasuke.

"I-I... We m-may... h-have..." He found none.

Now Naruto's room, simple as it was, had a few more 'luxury items' if you will than the rest of the house. In addition to there being a fair sized bed (big enough to fit two people in) and a wardrobe there was also a full length mirror by the door that Naruto had bought for the sole purpose of making sure he looked alright in the hokage robes that he would have to be wearing every day. Usually Naruto draped a towel over said mirror because, lets face it, living alone is scary enough without the possabilities an old mirror in your room brought to the table, but the previous night he had not concealed it. Naruto had been too preocupied with dealing with Sasuke to even think about it.

The forgotten mirror, at the moment both boys noticed it's presence, was about to cause many more problems than freaking Naruto out in the middle of the night.

"What is on my neck?" Not waiting for Naruto to give him an answer or stop him Sasuke rushed to the mirror in shock and horror at the thought of the dark purple marks covering his neck and chest.

"Hickies?" His head snapped to the side to glare at Naruto who once again looked like he was going to cry, "What the hell did you do, rape me?"

Naruto froze, there was nothing he could do about the situation now. Perhaps if he had not been so dumb earlier and got someone like sai to come over perhaps he could have blamed it on him, but it was far too late to do something like that.

The blonde wrapped his arms around his waist and stared wide eyed at the floor as hot tears overflowed in twin streams down his face, not knowing exactly what to tell Sasuke. Had he raped him, or was it mutual? They were both drunk so the raven couldn't really press charges even if he wanted to but he could still spread nasty rumors about the Kyuubi vessel, and Naruto would loose his best friend... again.

Shaking his head and willing himself to not start wailing the moment he spoke Naruto was able to build up enough courage to look in Sasuke's general direction as he answered the raven's question.

"I-I... No, you were... d-drunk-"

"Oh and that makes everything better? What the hell were you thinking? You don't fuck your friends because they won't remember it in the morning idiot!"

"I was drunk too!" Shouted Naruto, causing Sasuke to cease yelling as well and just sit quietly as far as he could have gotten from the blonde. By this time both men were panting heavily from the adrenaline and fear of not knowing what to do - what would happen next. Naruto assumed this was the same reason Sasuke was shaking just as bad as he was as he buried his head in his hands before running a hand through his midnight black hair, but that wasn't his reasoning at all.

"Y-you don't remember it either?... Any of it?"

Naruto shook his head sadly, he had wanted to remember his first time with Sasuke, he really had but the blonde had not counted on it happening so suddenly with no warning whatsoever

"No, I was just as out of it as you w-" Naruto stared with calculating eyes at his friend. Sasuke suddenly looked lost, lost and sick and afraid all at the same time. Naruto assumed that's what he looked like too considering he had just sodomized his best friend without any form of permission, but Naruto felt no where as near as bad as he thought he did until he got the nerve to speak again.

"Sasuke-"

"You were my first." Sasuke said quietly, as though he were speaking to himself. His gaze directed only at the floor as he forced himself up off the ground with a pained grunt, and proceeded to the bathroom leaving a stunned silent Naruto there on the floor alone.

_'How am I suposed to respond to that?'_ Naruto thought frantically, _'I was his first... I thought - I was sure Sasuke had slept with someone!' _He hadn't figured that Sasuke, over the years, was far too busy training to kill his brother to partake in such activity even with Orochimaru who, true to rumors, had tried to slither his way into the boy's bed more than once.

A sour empty feeling consumed Naruto's entire being as he was sure he had just inadvertently ended his ten year friendship with the Uchiha in a matter of hours.

"I've got to make this right..." Tens of hundreds of plans of how to make things up to Sasuke flashed through his mind but none were good enough. None of his plans would be able to properly relay to Sasuke that he was sorry and sought forgiveness because in this situation it seemed nearly impossible for forgiveness to be granted. Knowing that he would be taken down from his pedistal as Rokudaime that day if Sasuke talked made Naruto want to just stay home and enjoy the time he had left in such an esteemed position, but he couldn't even do that because he had to go to work.

'Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep-' The alarm clock next to his bed came to life at exactly seven thirty when Naruto usually woke from his slumber and got ready for another long day of training with Tsunade-baa-sama and Naruto slapped the snooze button with such gusto that the tiney plastic thing shattered to a million pieces all over the nightstand and floor. he was not in the mood for it's noise.

realizing that he could not stay home or his mentor would track him down Naruto gathered his clothes and tip toed to the bathroom for a shower, if Sasuke was not already taking one of course.

Naruto peeked around the frame of his bedroom door into the living room where Sasuke sat unspeaking and unmoving on the couch, he had a clear shot behind the uncomfortable upholstered menace to the bathroom and could easily slip by without Sasuke hearing a thing but that just didn't seem right. he could at least say something. Carefully Naruto took a few heavy steps out into the rom, just to let Sasuke know he was there but if he heard the blonde he didn't let on for he didn't move from his spot and he certainly didn't acnowlege him. Naruto didn't mind though, or he couldn't mind, the only thing he had the right to do now was just let Sasuke do whatever he wanted for a while to let Naruto know that he trusted him and was sorry.

"S-Sasuke?" The blonde mentaly face palmed at the stutter that came out of his mouth instead of the strong 'Sasuke?' he had wanted, "You should get ready to go... you have to work today."

Naruto had not expected an answer from the raven and he didn't get one. Assuming Sasuke had actually heard him Naruto slinked away to the bathroom like a dog with it's tail between it's legs, it hurt to be ignored like that but he knew he deserved it.

Bathroom door locked and clothes discarded on the floor, Naruto turned on the water and let it warm up. Usually he did not take hot showers but after what he did last night he felt like he needed to scrub every inch of him until he was raw, surely sex with Sasuke could have not been that bad Naruto just felt that after what happened he would never be clean again.

With the scalding water cascading accross the wide expanse of Naruto's tan skin he tilted his head back and moaned at the feeling of his tight muscles loosening and the bulk of his worries being washed away down the drain but there was one thing still plaguing his mind that was perhaps too big to be taken away by mere water... Sasuke. Not that Naruto wanted him to leave or anything, no, if anything Naruto wanted - no, needed Sasuke to stay, but in light of what he did to the poor boy he was sure his friend would get up and leave him all alone. to his own devices... again.

'_I'm sure he'll run' _Naruto thought sorrowfully, _ 'When I'm not watching him, when the Anbu have no reason to worry... in other words... right now!'_

At the thought of Sasuke making a break for it while Naruto was indulging in the wonderful feeling of a hot shower he immediatly picked up the pace, scrubbing furiously at his golden blonde hair and the rest of his body until he was clean. Naruto slapped the water off and hurredly wrapped himself in a towel, not even giving himself time to dry his hair and jerked the door open to see Sasuke. The raven had not left his spot, or... he had gone to get dressed and ready for the day but he had returned to the same spot where he had been sitting when Naruto retreated to his shower.

The blonde let out a breath of air that he had not known he had been holding in and with that breath of air went every thought in his head and feeling in his chest that kept him from feeling like a horrible person, that kept him from feeling like this whole entire mess was his fault even though neither of them knew what they were doing.

He was crushed.

Secretly watching the raven sit there waiting for his host to come and take him to work brought tears to Naruto's eyes, he had been hurt by sasuke before and the bastard sure as hell deserved to get slappped around from time to time but not this bad - not like this. Perhaps he had been staring at the back of sasuke's head for too long because for a moment there the raven twitched before slowly turning towards his friend. naruto would have ducked out of his line of sight but he was again frozen in place and blinked the tears away before their eyes met.

For a moment neither of them spoke. a chill ran up Naruto's spine at the look Sasuke was giving him, hungry eyes ran slowly over his glistening tan skin, with the watter still running down his chest and all. sasuke could not deny, though he never would, that naruto was delicious so he had not been too hurt physically or mentaly by what he and naruto had done but he blamed himself more than anything which was the cause of his sudden depression. mad at himself because he had missed it.

The raven figured that Naruto would be kicking him out soon so he might as well enjoy the view while he could, besides, he would have to wait until work was over that night too to see Naruto again, and -

Work - he really didn't want to think about that.

Each continued to stare at the other, the raven unaware of the blonde's thoughts and visa versa. Neither dared to open his mouth for fear of what the other's response would be. The tension in the air only making the situation that much worse and serving only to make the home more awkward than was bearable. And in light of the events of the previous night that level of unrest between them was very acceptable.

The blonde was the one to break their seemingly unending staring contest, turning from the other man to conceal a heavy blush and head back into the bathroom to dry himself off. with a dismissive wave of his hand and a frown to make himself look as though he were not bothered Naruto dissapeared behind the door.

"Be ready in five!"

Sasuke turned back to the wall, sadly.

"Okay."

Sasuke seemed sad but did not blame Naruto, Naruto acted an ignorant fool but in reality he blamed himself.

**I would really appreciate some reviews...**

**Alright! review for me and tell me how i could improve this darn thing k? i wanted to make this chapter a bit longer but was already late for reviewing so i guess this is all you get for a while -_- sorry... anyway - I'm not so sure what else i should say so...**

** REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! please, por favor?**


	5. Chapter 5: The Loneliest Number

**Hey there, sorry for the wait. My computer exploded so now I have to use my sister's and I had to spend time writing the rest of the outline for this thing -_-…. Oh well, enjoy!**

Sleepless nights

Chapter 4

The Loneliest Number

'Children are disease ridden godless bastards.' Uchiha Sasuke thought sourly.

He had just finished his first full day on the job. The profession he was assigned to, it seemed, was created to be torturous to him and him alone for the rest of the faculty looked to have been enjoying the screaming little ones in their rambunctious play.

But not Sasuke.

The day did not begin so bad but sort of developed into something akin to his most feared nightmare. That day just so happened to be the time that his old academy sensei turned boss, Iruka Umino, decided to teach the kids how to use shurrikun and since one of the children had his father teach him a fire jutsu most of the targets were destroyed meaning that Sasuke had to fill in. for all of them.

He may be a world class ninja but that did not mean he could dodge twenty three eight year olds erratically chucking shurrikun at him without the help of his jutsu.

Sasuke limped lazily down the street not caring that it was not his home he was going back to or that he had not waited for the Anbu to come and get him to take him back there. The last thing on his mind was Naruto.

Sasuke glared at the civilians on the streets around him. They either returned his glare or ignored him altogether; some even went so far as to throw small objects his way and he let them hit him. He was not in the mood to pick a fight, just sneered back and continued on his way. Sasuke thought of what lady Tsunade would say to him if she knew he was silently bitching at all her citizens.

'Who cares,' he thought, 'I'm in Konoha to redeem myself not make friends.'

He saw out of the corner of his eye that an older man, one that he had surely seen before and who had seen him pick up a fair sized rock. Knowing it was for him Sasuke flinched preemptively, bracing himself for the blow.

"Uchiha!" he turned towards the sound just in time to see the old man hurl the first stone only for others around him to immediately join in, "go to hell!"

Sasuke stood where he was, taking a few hits to the face, figuring he deserved what he got. He expected the assault to escalate from just throwing things to a full on lynching, but what Sasuke did not expect was his only friend and the last thing on his mind to come to his rescue.

Suddenly Sasuke was off his feet but he did not hit the ground, no, instead a pair of strong arms wrapped around him refusing to let go. Above him stood a very handsome very pissed off Naruto-

'Handsome?' Sasuke thought, 'where did that come from?'

He may not have ever admitted it but Sasuke was glad when the blonde showed up for as soon as Naruto made his appearance the attack on Sasuke ceased altogether. The civilians stared at Rokudaime and he stared right back at them, scanning the crowd for who, Sasuke assumed, had started it all.

Naruto's eyes flicked from the crowd to him when he saw Sasuke holding the already bluish bruise on his cheek. Sasuke hadn't even realized he was but when Naruto took notice he dropped his hand to rest on his stomach and looked away, concealing the wound. As soon as Sasuke's hand was gone Naruto's was there turning the raven's head so he could see and caressing the bruised skin with velvety soft fingers.

"Who did this to you?" Sasuke said nothing. Naruto turned to the crowd.

"Who did this?" but not one fessed up. From the look on the blonde's face it seemed as though he was going to have every one of them beaten but Sasuke, not knowing his friend was destined to be Rokudaime figured they'd attack Naruto too. Just like when they were kids.

Then, Sasuke realized Naruto was still holding him up. Princess style. In front of everyone.

Immediately his face reddened and he tried pushing himself out of Naruto's grasp but again the blonde refused to let go, holding Sasuke even tighter and closer to him. If this had been five or so years earlier Sasuke would have assumed this to be a joke and forced Naruto to let him go then beat him up for embarrassing him; the look on Naruto's face, though, portrayed clearly that this was indeed _not_ meant to be something funny.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Naruto had asked again, this time the old man stepped forward with a fair sized rock in his hand and bowed, incredibly low to the ground, to Naruto.

'He really didn't throw it?' Sasuke thought.

"Please sir, accept my apologies." He said quickly, "I was merely trying to scare the boy… that's all, I didn't mean for him to be injured."

A few perplexing questions ran through Sasuke's head, some of these he could not answer by himself no matter how hard he tried.

'Why are they so – so nice to someone who used to be referred to as monster? Why is Naruto so protective of me and what's with that revered aura coming from him?'

Suddenly Sasuke was set gently on the ground, Naruto kept an arm wrapped around his waist so that he would not fall… or run away.

Sasuke watched silently as Naruto's hand shot into the hair and made a fist. Immediately three Anbu appeared on either side of Naruto and one in front, one took Sasuke's arm, thinking it was he who they were to arrest. But Naruto would not let him budge.

The blonde pointed to the old man and three others who held moderately heavy objects.

"Arrest the three of them for assaulting a Konoha shinobi." The Anbu did not think twice but hurried into the crowd, those who were not singled out gasped and backed away lest they be captured in the excitement.

"You don't have to arrest them," Sasuke hissed, "I'm not a child who needs to be protected."

As an answer to Sasuke's remark Naruto's hand ghosted over his cheek again, he frowned when Sasuke flinched away.

"This says otherwise and…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small but thick booklet on which Sasuke could see the title: "basic laws of Konoha."

"According to this book they've committed a crime…"

Sasuke glared at the blonde, "and who gave _you_ the authority to arrest people?" noticing for the final time the people stare at him in Naruto's arms Sasuke was finally able to wriggle out of the blonde's grasp, "would you let go of me already? I don't need you to hold me up!"

As he freed himself Sasuke stumbled, nearly ending up on the ground but picked himself up at the last second.

He glared angrily at Naruto's concerned look before sneering at the people behind them who seemed to be enjoying the unfolding drama. They all backed away but then took two more steps forward when he turned away.

"Huh? Aren't you going to answer me dobe?" Naruto just stared at him dumbly and Sasuke blushed and turned back towards home, "quit staring at me… fag."

Naruto had said something to him as he was walking away but the raven was in no mood for listening. He was still angry, at Naruto, Tsunade, and the whole damn town! Sasuke still limped half wishing he still had Naruto to help him along, since he was a partial reason for the pain shooting through his lower half.

'dumbass Naruto and his fucking butt raping, making me go to work…' Sasuke expected to be left alone, for that strategically placed insult to keep Naruto where he was so he could go someplace quiet and think. By himself. But that's not what Naruto had in mind.

Sasuke froze when a hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged him back. The raven threw a dangerous glare over his shoulder, the very signature of the Uchiha clan and one of the many reasons why people, for the most part, stayed away from them. But that glare faded when met with Naruto's bright cocky grin.

"You're limping pretty bad. Does that mean it was good?"

Sasuke scoffed, disgusted. "Are you _still_ thinking about that? You really are a fag aren't you?"

Naruto's smile faded a bit but he did not let go of Sasuke's wrist. "Me? And I'm sure the reason my ears were ringing this morning _wasn__'__t_ because you were screaming my name so loud your throat was raw. Now I don't know about you but I take that as a sign that you liked it more than you let on."

Sasuke's hand flew to his sore throat, his voice _had_ been scratchy that morning but he had not made the connection if that had even been the reason. Tension crackled between the two men as Naruto grinned and Sasuke glared. Due to the lack of volubility in their conversation the crowd had long since dissolved, leaving only the Anbu shinobi to watch the fight. One of these shinobi ran a hand through his silver hair nervously; he and the others were going to have a hell of a time straightening this mess out later.

Immediately Sasuke slapped Naruto's hand away and turned, walking away without another word. Naruto panicked, he had not meant to anger Sasuke, though, if that was his goal he might have not played off Sasuke's femininity so much. He reached out and chased after the retreating Uchiha.

"Sasuke! Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't know what to say I – I didn't mean anything by it! I swear!" he caught Sasuke's shoulder and the raven shook him off but did not try to leave, "please… we _need_ to talk about this."

He did not notice Sasuke shake with fury and his hands ball into fists.

In a blur of black hair and green vest Sasuke whirled around slamming his knuckles into the blonde's face as Sasuke's twisted into a more vicious bloodthirsty spectacle of anger.

The stench of blood filled the air and despite the force in Sasuke's blow Naruto had not moved an inch, allowing Sasuke to pull back and hit him again.

'Wham!'

This time the man's nose emitted the sickening cringe ensuing sound of bone snapping as blood splattered onto Sasuke's fist, the ground, and dripped down the blonde's face.

"We don't need to _talk_ about _anything_! All I _need_ is for you to get the fuck away from me! I didn't _ask_ for this! I didn't want you to take me in, I didn't want a job, why don't you just pretend like we're all content with our lives like everyone else? It's better for everyone that way! _That_ is what _I_ want!"

All three Anbu rushed forward as Sasuke took off down the street but were halted by Rokudaime's hand in the air.

Holding his broken nose in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding Naruto watched Sasuke leave, not taking his eyes off the man for a second. He just couldn't bear to look away.

"leev hib," naruto ordered, "well get hib lader." He finally turned and started back the other way when sasuke was out of sight. He needed someone to talk to, Naruto did. He turned to one of his Anbu.

"Copy ninja, contagt sy n tell hib I'b cobing ober lader… I need to get by nose fixed." He mumbled.

X

Salty hot tears streamed down the raven's face as he ran as fast as he could to no place in particular. He only slowed down when the sun had set completely, his eyes had adjusted to the darkness but the tears had not yet subsided making his vision a little worse, not that it mattered at such a time. The raven hiccupped and whipped the tears from his face as he stumbled along the dirt path with thousands of neat round stones and trimmed grass on either side. He didn't know why his feet had taken him here and he didn't care to question his subconscious for doing so.

Sasuke, finally having passed the twisted black gates and reached his destination, burst into a violent sob that sent him crashing to his knees. The raven's hands shot to his face in an attempt to try and stop the tears himself.

'N – No, I can't be weak. Not here, not in front of him!'

Finding that the waterfall would stop for no man Sasuke doubled over in sorrow, using the sturdy stone in front of him to keep himself from collapsing right there.

Sad lonely tears rained down onto the grass and little purple flowers blooming on the plot as Sasuke sobbed, completely and unreserved, he let go of the reservoir that he'd been holding back his entire life.

Lightning flickered in the black sky and the thunder that followed shook the raven to the core as the clouds opened up letting go a torrential downpour on Sasuke's head. He did not move but clung a bit more to the stone slab he was hunched over as though for comfort and warmth. He would face the world in the morning… Naruto, in the morning but right now… right now, he just needed to be here, with his brother. Just a little bit longer.

**Alright! what did you think? I need reviews to make me happy and get me to continue! :D**

**Please and thank you :DDDDDDDDDDDD**


	6. Chapter 6: Grown Men Don't Cry

**Since I was a tard and didn't update for like a month I'll give you two chapters in two days… congradulations! Please review and I don't own Naruto in any way shape or form and never will. T_T**

Sleepless nights 6

Grown Men Don't Cry

"Would you put that thing down and help me out? This is a serious crisis Sai!" Naruto yelled at his pale friend who was a little too busy with his painting to give Naruto his undivided attention. It was morning by the time Naruto actually made it to his friend's house for Sakura wouldn't let him go until she was sure Kyuubi had healed him all the way. She made him wear the bandages anyway, just in case.

"I can multitask," Sai said without taking his eyes from the piece, "just tell me what's going on with you and Sasuke-kun."

Naruto sighed and settled a bit more in the uncomfortable chair Sai had him sit in. honestly this was the last person Naruto had wanted to tell his problems to due to the whole 'emotionless shinobi' thing he had going on, but Sakura was more than busy at the hospital and none of his other friends would understand.

Naruto peered past Sai to the canvas on which he was hurriedly splattering paint, it was a sitting woman wearing a Victorian ball gown with pale skin and two children in her arms, he had not subject by which to paint.

'Weird… I'll never understand artists.' Naruto thought.

"And what happened to your nose?" asked Sai, "you look like you got in a bar fight."

Naruto scoffed, "Rokudaime doesn't _go_ to bars, and that's part of the problem… Sasuke punched me… twice."

The emotionless ninja stopped what he was doing and turned to face Naruto who though realized if he could feel Sai would have looked worried.

"What did you do?" Naruto rubbed his sore nose subconsciously before continuing.

"Well, lady Tsunade made me keep him till he's a real Konoha citizen or something and… I yelled at him and pissed him off, there was drinking and we… um, we kind of…"

Sai leaned in and gestured for him to continue.

"We-we fucked! We were both drunk and we didn't know what we were doing! I'll never be able to look at him again if I don't tell him how I feel about it, and-and I _need_ to know how he feels!" Naruto delved his hands into his hair trying to stop the sudden flow of emotion that took over his senses as tears stung his eyes, threatening to overflow. But Sai was not paying that too much attention, he glanced around his studio for an empty canvas big enough for his new vision.

"You two fucked huh… that would make a great painting-ouch!"

Naruto retreated back to his seat after thumping Sai upside the head with his fist. "Would you quit being a pervert for one second? This is _serious_!"

Sai just stared at him, "it was a joke." Somehow, though, Naruto couldn't believe him. "What happened after that, you know, the broken nose?"

Naruto shrugged and folded his arms over his chest.

"Not much. He went to work and I went to training and when we" he gestured to his Anbu 'copy ninja' who was with him, "caught up with him I let my big mouth get away from me and pissed him off even more so he broke my nose and ran away."

"Wow that's rough," said Sai dryly, "I was wrong about you Naruto. If you picked a fight with Sasuke-kun you _do_ have balls."

X

Uchiha Sasuke slowly lifted his head from the damp grass and wrapped his arms around himself to keep him from shivering. He was soaked and sure he was catching a cold. He had stayed there in the cemetery all night but he wasn't alone.

He reached out, letting his hand brush against the chiseled letters that made up the name 'Uchiha Itachi.'

This was the only favor Tsunade had ever done him and would probably be the last. He had begged her, on his hands and knees, face to the floor and tears in his face to bury his brother for him here in Konoha where he belonged. This was the first time Sasuke had cried in front of anybody save Itachi and if he had his way he wouldn't in front of anyone else ever again, but the tears welled up in the broken man's eyes anyway. He sat back a little bit but did not take his hand from the stone.

"You probably don't want me here but I can't leave… not yet." He paused, muffling a sob, "please brother, I need help, I'm so confused and i-I don't know what to do! Everything just feels so wrong! I can't… I can't do this by myself. Please. Tell me what to do, anything to make this better."

He knew his request was silly, that he was just speaking to the wind but somehow as the gray clouds parted for the sun as the soft breeze dried his tears and blew his hair from eyes Sasuke had to smile as a single brilliant thought crossed his mind. Albeit sadly, but it was a smile.

Using the headstone to push himself up off his knees Sasuke stood before his brother's grave for a moment before bowing.

"I'll be back, brother, thank you."

Sasuke did not know if the idea came from his brother or not but he had gotten his answer. He turned back down the way he'd come, taking off some of his waterlogged clothing to keep sickness ad bay, he was headed home to Naruto, it was obvious to him now that he was put in this situation for a reason, to be able to fix his life, to turn it around for the better. Sasuke had lost so much in his life, his parents, his brother, friends, and self worth. This lasting friendship was the only thing he had left and suddenly, Sasuke didn't want to give up anything else.

He smiled through the tears running down his face, he felt it, crawling beneath his skin, the need for something to take him away from his sorrow like a hunger to find a place he'd never thought he'd be. He knew the only way to save what was left of him was to take it and give it to some else, a trustworthy person who would take care of it, someone like-

X

"Naruto? Are you home?"

Sasuke jolted awake at the harsh knocking and voice coming from the other side of his door, well technically Naruto's door but he wasn't home at the moment. Sasuke went straight home to find the door unlocked but no one home, figuring that Naruto was just at work and would be home later Sasuke lay down on the couch for a well deserved nap. He hadn't slept a bit the previous night, he'd been too cold.

Now someone was at his door, constantly knocking and asking if Naruto was home though no one had answered. That should have told this person that no one was home.

"Just a minute!" Sasuke hopped off the couch, pulling a shirt over his head and throwing on some sweatpants, it was hot in the house because he turned the heat up to ninety to get rid of his chill. Of course he planned to reimburse Naruto for the heat bill later.

He wretched the door open to have to step back when Iruka fell into the apartment, it seemed as though he was listening for sounds through the door, behind him stood Kakashi sensei and Naruto's mentor that Sasuke had only met a few times before, Jiraya.

"Sasuke?" asked Kakashi worriedly, "you look awful, what happened to you?"

Sasuke's hand shot to his face as he turned to the small mirror hanging by the doorframe to see the puffy red bags beneath his bloodshot eyes and his disheveled hair in addition to the bruises caused by both the blonde and his disaster of a job.

Sasuke immediately seized one of Naruto's jackets from the back of a chair and put it on hoping that if his injuries were out of sight they'd be out of mind, but that wasn't his only problem.

"And why are you in Naruto's apartment?" asked Jiraya.

"By the way," said Iruka, "where is Naruto?"

Sasuke's face reddened as he cleared his throat, trying to avoid their expecting stares.

"I'm in Naruto's apartment because I live here," Sasuke turned back to Kakashi, "I thought you would know that, and the dobe isn't here. I don't know where he is."

They were silent. For a moment none of the older men spoke, they just looked at each other.

Suddenly Sasuke was shoved aside and all three men forced their way into the home closing and locking the door behind them.

"Thank you for inviting us in." said Iruka as he and Jiraya sat down.

"Look, you guys can't just barge in here! This isn't your house and I can't invite you in because it's not mine-" Kakashi grabbed Sasuke's arm and shoved him into a chair, forcing him to sit still.

"Sit down and shut up Sasuke, I'm going to go easy on you because I'm your sensei but I can't speak for the other two. Now you're going to sit here _quietly_ and _listen_. We need to talk."

X

"There's a simple way to tell him how you feel." Said Sai as he worked on another portrait without a subject, "ask him out."

Naruto shook his head. "That's not going to work, I don't even think Sasuke's gay and if he was would he _really_ go out with me?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Sai asked, turning to face his friend, "you've been his only friend for years and you did take his virginity didn't you?"

Naruto sighed and looked up at the clock, he had sent his Anbu to check and see if Sasuke was home yet and he had not yet returned with news. Technically Naruto had orders from lady Tsunade to not go outside without a shinobi with him since he was to-be Hokage and Kyuubi vessel but Naruto had something better than ninja to protect him. The Kyuubi itself .

He hadn't actually spoken to the beast since that morning when he neglected his studies from the time he arrived at the office to lunch just because he needed someone to talk to.

'I know what you're thinking; I'm you conscious you know.' Kyuubi growled, 'he's not mad at you, don't worry.' But Naruto didn't answer him.

"Ask him out… you know, I would if that were acceptable but you know about this palace just as well as I do Sai. The citizens won't stand for it if one of their fellow villagers is gay how would they deal if they knew their Hokage was into men?"

"Probably not well," said Sai, "but there's no harm in trying, the worst he can do is say no right?"

Naruto nodded in affirmation. He never knew his friend could be so helpful when he wanted to be. "For a guy with no emotion you sure give good advice, maybe there _is_ a bit of human in there somewhere?" Naruto smiled as Sai shook his head and turned back to his work.

"I read it in a book."

Naruto got up to show himself out of Sai's studio, "well I got to go get myself a boyfriend, see ya later Sai."

The man waved over his shoulder at Naruto, "let me know what Sasuke thinks about that painting of you two I wanted."

Naruto smirked and shut the door behind him. "Pervert."

X

"I swear to _god_ if you hurt my Naruto I'll beat the shit out of you so hard your grandchildren'll be able to feel it!" Iruka screamed, the only reason he had not yet carried out his threat was because Kakashi was holding him back. Quite literally.

Sasuke had nearly climbed over the back of his chair to get away from the overprotective man but Jiraya was there to make sure he could not get away. The raven had a white knuckled grip on the arms of the chair and he gritted his teeth, now he would never admit he was afraid but someone so hostile getting in his face like this was terrifying.

'They have the right to distrust me but-but I'm supposed to be here to regain their trust! How can I do that if they won't give me a chance?' Sasuke shut his eyes trying to force back tears that threatened to give him away, through Iruka's yelling he could see his life as it would be if he stopped trying like he so dearly wished he could. Cold, lonely, and the same as it was.

Sasuke froze, mortified as a single tear slid down his face, followed by so many more than in a moment his face was soaked.

Suddenly Iruka stopped yelling and glared at the tearful man before him.

"Tch! You don't deserve Naruto's pity, someone weak like you." he turned to the side, unable to look at the man any longer lest he explode in another display of parental fury, "you should have stopped crying like that years ago."

The three men continued to lecture the raven but he didn't hear them, Jiraya let him go and Sasuke covered his face with his hands to hide his shame.

'I-I wish Naruto were here… where is he?'

**Review please, that would be the best Christmas gift ya'll could ever give me. :3**


	7. Chapter 7: Say What Ya Need to Say

**I don't own Naruto or anything affiliated with it… that belongs to… someone else.**

**Supsies? Alright so I've decided that I'm going to update whenever the heck I finish a chapter… I can't wait a week to keep going 'cuz then I lose my mo-jo ya know?**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter: 7

Say What Ya Need To Say

"Oi! Naruto! Wait up!"

Naruto turned around to see Sakura jogging up to meet him; he smiled and waited for her to catch up.

At the moment Naruto was on his way home from Sai's house, hopefully to see Sasuke and find out his thoughts on a subject of a date or two between them. The blonde was nervous and jittery even though he was still across town from home, just the idea of Sasuke with that dumbfound look of anger on his face after he asked the question made Naruto cringe. He'd seen that look before, plenty of times, and fairly recently but the happy grin of his only female teammate made him forget all about that.

"Hi Sakura-chan, I didn't think your shift ended till later tonight!" the girl smiled and hugged Naruto's arm as they walked.

"Nope, got off early. I cheated and said I was going to take care of Rokudaime for a while, I'm sure Shizune senpai won't mind." As we all know normally Sakura would have never touched Naruto let alone acted so giggley and girly around him, but recently Naruto came out to a few select people of which Sakura was one. As a favor to her old friend Sakura took it upon herself to act like a love struck school girl with him, just so there would be no suspicion or questioning of his sexuality. For his job's sake.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto whined, "you're awful! Don't use me as an excuse to get off work early!"

She giggled, "Whatever Naruto… how's your nose?"

Honestly Naruto had forgotten all about his injury from the previous day due to one little problem… Sasuke.

"It's alright I guess, I was just on my way home to see if Sasuke's there yet… you wanna come?"

At the mention of Sasuke, Sakura stopped in her tracks, an angry look on her face, "I don't know if that's a good idea. This is the man who broke both our hearts and your nose," she giggled, "you know better than anyone Naruto; hell knoweth no fury as that of an overworked nurse!"

She started to walk but Naruto called her back anxiously, he could feel his face become pale.

"Um, Sakura, I'm not just going home to see Sasuke… I I-I… I-want-to-ask-him-out-but-I-don't-know-if-it's-a-good-idea!"

Both of them paused, staring into the others' eyes. Suddenly Sakura burst out laughing, holding her stomach as though her guts hurt.

Naruto lifted a finger to his lips trying to silence the hysteric girl who was drawing attention from the people around them. Others stared and whispered.

Finally Sakura calmed herself down just enough to make a sentence that Naruto could understand. "O-oh my _God_! It's about – about damn time, Naruto!"

The blonde's worried look spread into a grin as he joined her in laughter. As soon as the joy subsided Sakura took on a serious demeanor.

"Are you gonna do it?" Naruto scratched the back of his neck and looked away.

"I'm going to try if that's what ya wanna hear."

She smiled sweetly and nodded as they started again off towards Naruto's house. She was going to walk him home.

Naruto grinned at the woman next to him, she would always be his first love, he would not deny that to anyone and what she lacked in romanticism towards him she made up for in a great friendship. He knew Sakura would do just about anything for him and only wanted what was best for her best friend and future hokage.

Wondering again about Sasuke Naruto realized that it was very possible, more than possible in fact, that Sasuke would say no and laugh in his face. The thought made the blonde's stomach churn and his cheeks heat up, his hands got clammy and he shivered even though the air was hot. He didn't think he would be able to handle rejection but Naruto was sure that if he _was_ rejected he would need quite a bit of alone time to even _start_ to get over it.

Before he even knew it he and Sakura were standing in front of his apartment door. For a moment they stood, hand in hand just waiting for Naruto to muster up the courage to open the door.

After one final squeeze Sakura pulled her hand back before retreating down the hallway wishing her friend good luck and telling him not to get into another fight or _she__'__d_ have to kick Sasuke's ass.

He gulped, knowing now without a doubt that Sasuke was just behind the door. If not waiting for him then packing what few things he had in preparation to leave. Naruto lifted a shaky hand to the knob, having to use the wall to steady himself.

'Thuk!'

From the other side of the door Naruto heard a loud thump followed by a cry, multiple voices, and scuffling against his floor.

'Who's in my house?' Naruto wretched the door open, letting it slam against the wall and rushed inside.

"Sasuke?-" he paused mid-sentence at the sight he was met with and what was going on in his living room.

Sasuke was sprawled on the floor with Jiraya sitting on his back keeping him pinned down. Across the room Kakashi tended to the injured Iruka who was clutching his stomach in pain while glaring daggers and the immobile raven who had commenced struggling to shove the heavy toad ninja off of him.

Naruto looked at each one of them for an explanation but got nothing.

"Why are you all in my house?"

There was a short silence before Iruka (still in mother hen mode I might add) darted forward and kicked Sasuke roughly in the side, making him cough and struggle harder against Jiraya's immense weight.

"That stupid kid tried to kill me!" he yelled, "he's a threat to your wellbeing-" Kakashi slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Well he _did_ try to harm Iruka-kun but it was far from unprovoked."

"I don't want him messin' you up and makin' all that training for nothing!" added Jiraya, "you shouldn't have to be living with someone like him, I don't know what Tsunade was thinking!" the old man shifted his weight, earning a pained whimper and a sickening crack from Sasuke's back.

Immediately Naruto rushed into the house and shoved Jiraya off his friend and helped the Uchiha to his feet, brushing him off and making sure the crack emitted from his spine was nothing serious.

"All of you need to get out of here," Naruto ordered sternly, when no one moved he got angry, "you three are idiots! First of all ask me before you jump someone like that, you could have killed him! And what's more Sasuke's not the same person he was! He's really here to stay and I believe that because he told me so, and for his probationary period I wouldn't want him living anywhere else!"

The entire time Sasuke had not said a thing, too stunned to open his mouth and too afraid of Naruto's mentors to join in on the argument. He was stunned because of Naruto's testimony, hadn't he told the blonde off and broken his nose just the day before and now he was defending Sasuke? And what of Naruto's speech just now 'Sasuke isn't the person he was' Naruto didn't know that for fact and yet he stood there half lying to his teachers to save Sasuke from further harm by their hands.

Sasuke didn't know what to think. He was _not_ going to cry again because, frankly, he was all cried out. He didn't get it. He just didn't get how after everything that had happened in the past two days and all the drama Sasuke brought with him when he came home could Naruto even stand to be around him let alone continue to live with him.

How could he act like Sasuke hadn't ripped his heart in two?

As soon as the raven returned to reality Naruto was shoving his mentors out the door, telling them to stay away from his apartment unless invited and that he would deal with them later. Sasuke stood in the middle of the floor, unable to move as Naruto locked the door and approached him. The blonde looked Sasuke over for any new injury.

"They didn't hurt you did they?" Sasuke shook his head no, "no bruises, bumps, cuts? You can tell me you know." Sasuke shook his head again and flinched away slightly, shamefully, when Naruto wrapped his arms around his lean body and just held him there in a concept foreign to the Uchiha.

A hug.

"Where were you all night?" Naruto whispered, almost to himself, "I was so worried you'd left. I couldn't even work, I was so worried, so worried."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing; Naruto had been worried about him? But why? Why would it matter to Naruto if Sasuke disappeared for a little while, it's not like he was alone, but he wasn't going to tell Naruto that? He had been worried… during the night Sasuke hadn't even given thought to how Naruto felt about his absence. He couldn't bear to answer the question but the least he _could_ do was return Naruto's embrace.

The raven reluctantly placed his hands on Naruto's back and squeezed, the motion forcing his face into the crook of the blonde's neck. Pleasantly the smell of cinnamon and, predictably, ramen met Sasuke when he breathed in. his legs felt like jelly and a shock ran down his spine when Naruto's hand rubbed its way up his back to rest on the back of his neck and before he knew it he and the blonde were moving backwards.

"Wha-" Sasuke tried to ask Naruto what he was doing but was rendered unable to finish his sentence when the backs of his legs collided with the arm of the couch, he toppled onto the less than comfortable monstrosity as Naruto fell on top of him. As soon as the blonde was settled above Sasuke his hands rocketed to his uke's face to keep him from moving away.

"Na-Naruto? What are you d-doing?" Sasuke panicked as the blonde's face got closer and closer to his own before Naruto paused mere centimeters from his lips, waiting for Sasuke to start talking again and when he did the blonde took advantage of the situation and kissed him. Naruto's tongue licked Sasuke's lips slowly before he pulled back.

"You looked pale… I thought I'd check and see if you had a fever."

Sasuke blushed profusely and succeeded in shoving Naruto to one end of the couch while he huddled behind his fort of approximately one pillow on the other.

"You could have told me that!"

"But then it wouldn't have been such a nice surprise." The blonde was not smiling but Sasuke could tell he was just as happy as when he was grinning. Not wanting to worry himself with the real reason Naruto had kissed him just yet Sasuke went back to the subject of his roomy's teachers.

"Why did Kakashi sensei and the others come in here and attack me like that?"

Suddenly Naruto looked away and Sasuke wondered if he should not have asked that questioned.

"They're my teachers, they've known me my whole life and they've always been protective of me – I'm the jinchurriki after all-"

"_Noo_ way," Sasuke interrupted, "not like that, they were never protective like that!"

Naruto turned the other way to stare out the window, still unable to look Sasuke in the eye. "if I tell you that you can't tell anyone until it's made official," Sasuke nodded affirmatively, "those three are so worried about my welfare now not just because I have kyuubi and am their friend but because… I'm going to be… Rokudaime hokage."

Sasuke's face was blank. "I already know that dobe you've been telling me that for years with all of your 'I'm going to be hokage one day' shit."

Now it was Naruto's turn to shake his head, "no, you don't get it, I made it, I'm being trained for the title, by this time next year I'll be walking down the street and people will be calling me 'lord hokage' I _am_ Rokudaime hokage."

Now this shouldn't have bee n such a surprise to Sasuke who had figured Naruto'd attain the occupation anyway but he could not keep the look of complete shock from his face.

'Rokudaime hokage, that's… amazing. I'll never be stronger than him now…' Sasuke wanted to be angry that the dobe would always be better than him but he just couldn't. He didn't care about that anymore and if anything, he was happy for Naruto that he'd finally achieved the thing he'd been striving for since they were children, finally realized his dream. Sasuke looked up at Naruto and opened his mouth to speak.

"So what?"

X

"So what?" Naruto had just gotten finished telling Sasuke he was going to be Rokudaime, that Sasuke's _best__friend_ was going to be hokage and all he said was: "so what?"

"_So_," Naruto replied, "I've decided to give you a second chance, but that all depends on how you answer one question…" Sasuke nodded attentively waiting for Naruto to speak. The blonde's mouth was open but no words would come out. He was about to do it, ask Sasuke to date him that is. Suddenly all the forgotten doubts and negativities from before captivated his mind, he couldn't do it!

"Well," asked the impatient Uchiha, "what is it? What's the question?"

Naruto babbled out something completely incoherent and after a mental face palm and a mini pep-talk from kyuubi he recomposed himself enough to actually speak.

"D-Do you want to move back to your house?"

Sasuke raise a thin eyebrow in confusion, "My house?"

"Yea," Naruto nodded vigorously hoping to have covered up his folly, "if you do well here I can make sure you can get back in your house sooner! I-I mean… if you want to."

Actually Sasuke was completely comfortable living here with Naruto, just the two of them. He was so comfortable in fact that their accidental nocturnal activities from a few nights ago didn't bother him anymore, if anything, Sasuke wanted to try it again just to remember what it was like. Though Naruto didn't need to know that but Naruto asked him if he wanted to move out… did that mean that Naruto wanted Sasuke gone? Just the thought of this depressed the Uchiha and he smiled as much as he possibly could.

"Yea, I think I'd like that."

**Once again, the greatest Christmas present you could possibly give me is reviews or socks but mommy says I'm not allowed to accept socks from strangers… lots and lots of reviews okay? Tell me what you think and a _VERY__MERRY__CHRISTMAS!_**


	8. Chapter 8: Enter the Dark

**Heyo! It's been a long time hasn't it? I apologize for that and honestly I have but one excuse – FINALS WEEK – though it isn't really a good one because finals week by definition only lasts for a week and I've been holding out on you for like a month or something so I made this chapter _extra_ long!… you may throw things at me if you'd like…**

**Disclaimer: Naruto is someone else's ingenious brain baby… not mine.**

**Another disclaimer: Some of the things that the characters do in this chapter are huge no-no's, things such as jumping people with baseball bats and committing suicide… these are no-no's k?**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter: 8

Enter the Dark

'_I hate myself. There's no point to continuing life. I should just die and get out of his hair. Life is worthless… I'm worthless.'_

Sasuke Uchiha had been living in Konoha for these past fourteen weeks with one reoccurring thought on his mind. The thought… of death.

Ever since he'd come home it seemed that a dark cloud followed him wherever he went. If he went out alone he was insulted and assaulted. When he left the house with Naruto the blonde's mood darkened and even _he_ was shunned. Sasuke was bringing Naruto down as he fell deeper into the abyss, and he knew it.

That day was Monday, Sasuke's day off and Naruto day to work. The blonde wouldn't be home until much later that night, giving Sasuke more time to think than he'd wanted but just enough time to realize how much of a wrench his returning to Konoha had thrown into Naruto's plans.

'_Because of me he's missed his training, stood physical pain and risked his title as Hokage arresting his own citizens all for me.'_

Even though he had Naruto there more than willing to protect him Sasuke couldn't help but look over his shoulder for the enemy though there was no one in sight. The constant worry of past acquaintances tracking him down was tearing him apart! Sasuke found himself strung out on an invisible drug, jumping at the slightest sound and overanalyzing every step he took.

He was so lonely, but couldn't bear the thought of friends; of people being close to him for fear that he would hurt someone, break another soul or wound another heart.

Alone and with no one there to keep him from his dark fantasies Sasuke had quit loafing around the house hours ago, not even having the will to keep moving or to switch on the television. He sat idly on the couch staring at nothing but the wall and lightly massaging his mangled swollen fingers and the fresh purple splotches that covered every visible inch of his skin and more. It wasn't too hard to believe that the pale man bruised easily because throughout the last fourteen weeks he had been known to develop a bruise in mere seconds but would Naruto really believe the lies Sasuke told about these ones?

'_It's my fault; I did this to myself… I did… myself. I should have stayed home; no one else needs to suffer for me, for what I did.'_ His unbroken train of mind never strayed from its path, plunging him further and deeper into depression until the light at the end of the tunnel between life and death seemed like the only way out. Just this morning, though, the raven had been singing a completely different tune.

Naruto'd asked him, no, ordered him out of the house for a little fresh air. The blonde hadn't been specific as to where he was to go nor if he even had to leave the yard and now that he dwelled upon it Sasuke realized that things would have been much better for him had he stayed close to the house.

X

"I haven't been to the market in a while," Sasuke chimed to himself almost happily; "I really hope they have fresh tomatoes, it's not really fair if I make Naruto fix dinner all the time." He wrinkled his nose momentarily at the thought of what dinner would be if he didn't get his ass of the couch and cook. It wasn't that Naruto was a bad cook or anything… it's just that Sasuke hadn't ever tasted anything Naruto'd made by himself because all he ever prepared was instant ramen.

On his way out of the house Sasuke picked up a wicker basket for groceries and tossed his leaf village headband to the side, he wouldn't need it today since today was his day off. A tranquil smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he strolled leisurely down the street, it was far too early for anyone else to be out on the streets so it would be pretty hard for Sasuke to get himself into any trouble.

He weaved his way through the narrow dirt streets as though he'd never left them at all. Whilst letting his mind wander and humming a random tune Sasuke found himself subconsciously following the smell of chicken broth and fresh meat to the beginning of Market Street and the Ichiraku ramen shop.

Sasuke shouted a pleasant hello to the shop owner and his red faced daughter (and it wasn't the heat of the kitchen that made her blush). The raven had been on relatively good terms with the owner of Naruto's favorite eatery for all the time he'd been back in town since he hadn't done anything offensive to the man personally when he left. Naruto took Sasuke there to eat frequently when the blonde didn't feel like cooking and therefore one could nearly saw that Sasuke's relationship with the shop owner was good.

He didn't get too far down the street past Ichiraku when Sasuke realized that – given the fact that all the drapes were drawn and the lights were off – most of the vendors were closed.

Sasuke scowled half heartedly and turned back the way he'd come to head right back home, he would have to come out again later and brave the crowds because he'd really rather not go out with Naruto today.

Suddenly the basket Sasuke was carrying toppled out of his arms as the expertly wielded blunt object collided with the back of his head and when his collision with the ground didn't knock the wind out of him a swift kick to his stomach did. He scrambled to his hands and knees gasping for breath only for whatever he had been struck with to be cracked in half over his back.

Sasuke cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground once again. It was impossible for his mind to sort through the instant anger and fear layered in confusion to figure out exactly what was going on. At the moment all he knew was pain. Sasuke gasped again when he felt and heard the snap of bone when someone stomped on the fingers of his right hand. Sasuke was right handed; he was now all but defenseless.

In an effort to save himself some pain Sasuke stayed completely still save for his body's violent convulsions whenever he was struck. It seemed like an eternity until they finished their foremost beating – Sasuke'd assumed the _they_ after being hit with multiple objects at one time.

All of a sudden six hands were on him pulling him up off the ground, Sasuke found, much to his dismay, that no matter how hard he tried he couldn't support his own weight and was forced to count on them to hold him up.

Still in an unaware haze Sasuke's head listed to one side before he was slapped back, his head jerking in the opposite direction and eliciting a painful crack from his neck.

He wondered what the point of helping him up was because he was dropped right back to the ground.

"You're a disgrace to shinobi the world over!" his assailant spat angrily, Sasuke hadn't gotten the courage to open his eyes and when he did the scene in front of him was far more painful than anything they could have inflicted on his person. He knew them.

"Neji! What did you do? We were just supposed to scare him not kill him!" above Sasuke stood a very pissed off Neji, terrified Tenten, and lee who looked like he was about to vomit.

"I haven't killed him and we _were_ scaring him." He shoved her away and turned back to Sasuke, holding the broken object out to poke in his face, "and I may just have to kill him now that he knows it was us who attacked him."

Sasuke crawled back until the pain in his hand became apparent and he found his voice, terrified and cracked as it may have been.

"Baseball bats? Really?" The fear must have registered in his eyes because Neji then laughed darkly and thumped him not so playfully upside the head.

"Yup! But we're not just here to play baseball with your skull Uchiha; we've got something to say to you."

"Th – then say it!" Sasuke wasn't too afraid of his old comrades to not be snippy back. Neji frowned and walloped him on the temple with the broken bat, Sasuke's vision suddenly blurred and he couldn't make out the shapes in front of him even though he knew they were three. By the time Sasuke's sight returned to him there were but two, lee had gone.

He groaned and pressed his hands to the sides of his head, the on setting headache making it impossible to think.

"Now that we're all warmed up I'm sure you won't try to run away again," said Neji with just the littlest hint of amusement in his voice, "you stay away from Naruto, scum like you have no _idea_ what you put him through! He's risked his job, not to mention his life just living with you!" Sasuke could not help but to gasp though the act in itself shot a jolt of pain through his jaw.

"He's risking everything…? For – for me?"

Neji snorted, "Lord knows why! He can't get over you, all the guy ever talks about is you, he said the only reason he went home in between training was to make sure Sasuke-kun was alright!"

'_Sasuke-kun?_' Sasuke questioned absently.

"You're bringing everyone in the city down with you! I bet you didn't know that after Naruto arrested those three villagers he had privileges revoked, all because of you! And did you really think life was going to return to normal if you came back? Every day Konoha shinobi are dying right outside the gates repelling allies and enemies who want to get their hands on you just because Naruto asked it, and it's killing him! I sure as hell don't see you out there getting your throat ripped out by that psychopath animal whisperer or shark man or that water guy!" Sasuke's eyes widened as tears began streaming down Neji's face, Tenten slid her hand into his and squeezed.

"You're nothing!" he raged, "Hinata-chan died for nothing just because that dumbass had to protect _you_!" the malice in his eyes escalated to murderous intent as Neji remembered the anguish of watching his cousin die. He snatched the thus far fairly unused bat from Tenten's hand and brought it down hard on the arm Sasuke'd raised to protect himself.

"Worthless piece of trash I'll kill you!" Neji swung the weapon violently and every time it looked like he'd made contact Sasuke would roll out of the way. His mind tipped a million miles an hour as he tried to figure out what he should do.

'_I could fight him, but then I'd get in trouble and possibly more injured-!_' he winced as the feeling returned to his right hand again, '_no! that won't work, but what do I do I can't fight him and Tenten isn't helping either of us!'_ he paused for a moment weighing his options and a moment was just enough time for the enraged Hyuuga to bean him in the ribs with such force that he crashed back into the ground, sliding a few additional feet.

He was out of time, Sasuke panicked as Neji approached, pat in hand, posed to kill and it looked like Naruto wasn't going to swoop in and save him this time.

"HELP!" his call was strained and weak but it was still a call for assistance. If he died now at least no one would be able to say he didn't try.

Sasuke shut his eyes tight and held out his hands as if to soften the blow, as though Neji wouldn't just find a way around it and inflict the same amount of damage if not more.

A few months ago Sasuke would have been proud of the fact that he could drive someone to such means of violence just by being alive but being back home and near the people he once loved and the people who once loved him Sasuke had realized that that had been no way to live. Now, because of the choices he made when he was a child someone who he had been acquainted with was out for his blood.

Sasuke waited for Neji to hit him but the blow never came and the sound of a blunt object breaking bone had not come from his body. He quickly opened his eyes just in time to see Neji get wacked across the face for a second time by what looked like a giant wok, in fact it _was_ a giant wok!

"Get out of here you delinquents!" shouted the hero who'd saved him.

Sasuke was still confused when the shopkeeper gently pulled him onto his feet and brushed the dust off of him. The old man had abandoned his station at Ichiraku and watch over the easily burnt noodles to beat the shit out of the guy who beat the shit out of Sasuke.

"If you were in trouble you should have called sooner," said the man gruffly, "people like you and my daughter who like to handle things by themselves should be required by law to carry a rape whistle!" he laughed suddenly but stopped when he saw the far off look in Sasuke's eyes.

"Hey guy, are you going to be alright?" he put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, the raven subconsciously ducked away from it. Ichiraku's owner took a quick look at his wounds and scratched his head nervously with a sick look on his face and Sasuke raised a slight eyebrow in question, did he really look that bad?

"Ya know, I don't have the kind of first aid kit in my shop to take care of that, I could call the hospital if you'd like or some Anbu to come and get you… or I could send my daughter to get Naruto-"

"No!" Sasuke interrupted but calmed down immediately after, "I mean n-no, I'm alright. I just need to get home." Sasuke hobbled around and started down the street. He tripped over his own feet but continued on slowly.

The shop owner _had_ insisted he take Sasuke home in case he couldn't make it by himself but Sasuke wasn't able to hear him well enough to respond. All he did was momentarily beg the man not to mention this to Naruto and take off a little faster, mumbling inaudibly to himself all the way.

It took an unreal amount of time for Sasuke to finally make it home due to the fact that he'd taken the long way to avoid having to pass the Hokage's mansion and risk being seen by someone he knew. As soon as he'd gotten home Sasuke tried to keep moving until Naruto arrived but he soon gave that up and stopped altogether, sitting on the couch wallowing in his own sorrow and unable to banish Neji's words from his mind.

X

That was the seventeenth time he'd relived the events of that morning and Sasuke's mood hadn't improved since. He still massaged his broken fingers though that only made them hurt worse.

"I've killed so many people without even trying," he mumbled as hot tears rolled down his cheeks, "without even knowing. People I knew… Hinata…" Sasuke closed his eyes and slammed his fist into the small table next to the couch, shattering it.

He glanced sullenly at the Mess on the floor and then returned his gaze to the wall.

'_I can't cause him anymore trouble, I won't. Naruto deserves so much better than he has… than me…'_ suddenly Sasuke perked up as an idea popped into his head. He now knew the only way to make Naruto's life better, to stop all the suffering he'd caused.

He jumped up from the couch as best as he could and limped to the bedroom with a soft smile on his face. He uncovered his bag with his things in it and dug around for a while with his good hand until he found his wallet and his notebook which he had just happened to have written down the weakness of every shinobi he'd ever met in.

Sasuke hobbled to the kitchen and set the two things on the counter where Naruto was sure to see them. He dug around in Naruto's storage drawer until he found the one working pen in the house; Sasuke sincerely contemplated requesting that Naruto buy himself a pack of pens with all the money.

He flipped through the pages of the notebook until he came to the page with his brother's name at the top; the whole page had been crossed out with red ink. Sasuke smiled as his eyes scanned the page, his hand caressed the paper as though it were actually Itachi there, he had said some of the vilest things about his brother on that page and he'd done his best to take it all back. The only thing that was written on it was three of the truest words Sasuke'd ever gotten out.

'I'm sorry brother.'

Now he wrote in black pen at the very bottom of the page until there was no more space left. Next he took the money from his wallet and set it all next to his note and smiled. It would make a good gift to Naruto; he wouldn't need it anyway, not where he was going.

Throughout his mission Sasuke didn't think and his conscience was silent. He knew exactly what he was doing and this is what he wanted.

The raven limped slowly across the room and hoisted himself up onto the counter before pulling open the nearest drawer and bringing out the shiny sharp assistor who would allow Sasuke to carry out his final plan.

Once again humming that unfamiliar tune Sasuke stood up on the counter and leaned his back against the wall for support. He grinned a sickly grin and tossed the silver thing up and watched it as it spun in the air, when it fell back down he caught it by the handle.

Sasuke closed his eyes again but this time it was not for fear but anticipation of calm waters ahead and the sweet release of an everlasting nap. He chuckled at some unheard joke as he dragged the silver across the thin pale skin of his wrists repeatedly and sighed contently as his knees buckled and he slipped on the liquid that pooled on the counter beneath him and toppled headlong onto the floor.

**Author's note: In no way to I condole suicide or any type of hurting one's self! It doesn't solve any problems, don't be a Sasuke! If you 'don't have any choices' GO GET SOME HELP FOR CORN'S SAKE! Once again don't be a Sasuke, suicide and cutting yourself son actividades no bueno!**


	9. Chapter 9: You Found Me

**Author's note: Awwww! You guys give the best reviews EVER! I've been inspired! Thank you for your patronage!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto blah, blah, blah**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter: 9

You Found Me

Naruto tilted his head back and sighed, leaning back in his chair and shoving the mountainous stack of paperwork in front of him in the opposite direction. There was so much left to do that there weren't enough hours in the day to finish it. Much to Naruto's dismay, though, there would definitely be more where that came from if Lady Tsunade had anything to say about it.

Naruto rubbed the tired out of his eyes and yawned, throwing his arms up to the sky for a much deserved stretch.

He really needed a break.

The blonde turned to gaze out the window at the bright blue sky, void of clouds and the full green trees of a smolderingly hot summer day. The only reason he hadn't escaped and gone outside yet was because the Hokage's mansion had air conditioning.

Lady Tsunade had run off approximately an hour earlier to run some errands and wouldn't be back for most of the rest of the day, she'd only told Naruto that if he needed her she'd be at the hospital around four. Whilst watching birds frolic and play just outside the window Naruto suddenly found himself thinking of his home, well really what was _in_ his home rather than the place itself. He felt awful just leaving Sasuke home all by himself on such a beautiful day but lady Tsunade quote un-quote "doesn't allow pets in the office".

He wondered what the raven was up to, smiling as he remembered Sasuke'd been complaining about his cooking for a while and would probably have dinner ready when Naruto got home.

'_Just like a married couple, making dinner for the other before they get home._' He shook his head suddenly, '_no, Sasuke wouldn't do that, he's fine without me-_'

'No he isn't!' Naruto started, nearly falling out of his chair at the sound of that little voice at the back of his mind.

"Kyuubi? Where the hell have you been? I haven't heard from you in a while." he laughed at his own rhetorical question.

'Enough with the small talk!' snapped the fox, 'look alive kit, the kid needs you!'

"What in the world-?" before Naruto could even finish his sentence the door burst open as Kakashi let himself in. even behind his mask he looked almost frantic and rushed into the room with one of Naruto's favorite people following closely behind.

"Old man! What are you doing here? I'll bet you're here to tell me you've got a new kind of ramen for me to try out tonight right? Sorry but I can't come over and try it I have a date tonight." Naruto reveled happily at the sound of the word _date_ and grinned at Ichiraku's shopkeeper. The old man shook his head.

"Please listen to me Naruto, it's got nothing to do with me or the ramen," the sullen look on his face sobered Naruto right up and he became serious as well, "its Sasuke, I'm worried about him."

Naruto grinned again and waved his hand dismissively.

"Sasuke-kun's going to be fine, he'll adjust to city life soon enough." The shopkeeper shook his head again, faster this time and with more urgency.

"No you idiot!" Naruto flinched, never having been called anything other than Naruto by the man, "Sasuke's in trouble, he was by the shop today and some thugs attacked him!"

Naruto's eyes widened and he held the arms of his chair in a white knuckled death grip. The old man held up an object in his hand that Naruto had not noticed with him earlier. It was a baseball bat, broken in half and covered in blood.

"This is all they left, I knocked the leader pretty hard but they both got away." He looked away as Naruto's continuously elevating enraged stare bored through his skull.

Suddenly, without warning Naruto was up and out the door so fast that his movement acted like a vacuum pulling all the documents he was supposed to go over off the table and scattering them on the floor.

'_Damnit, damnit, _damnit! _I never should have left him alone! He's probably crying in some corner alone somewhere because I was being selfish and left early for work!'_ he bolted around the corner onto market street and veered to the left and right to avoid running into the crowd of people packing the street.

'_I can't believe anyone would jump him! What if they broke him, what if they – if they had killed him!'_ Naruto's momentary spaz attack only ceased when he realized that Sasuke was stronger than that, he wouldn't die so easily.

The shopkeeper at Ichiraku had told him everything, from how happy Sasuke had seemed that morning to the far off broken look in his eyes as he begged the old man not to tell Naruto. The blonde gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, if he didn't calm down soon he'd kill somebody.

"Hey, Naruto!" he heard someone call his name but he didn't stop to chat or even to explain why he couldn't stop in the first place but plowed through the throngs of people on a straight shot path over fences and buildings to his apartment. As soon as he began to get tired he started burning Kyuubi's chakra to go just a little bit faster.

"Can you feel if he's hurt?" Naruto asked Kyuubi, he panicked at the short silence that followed.

'Kit… I can't feel anything.'

Naruto skidded to a stop in front of the apartment building just as he was coming down from his adrenaline high. After his anger was gone Naruto's entire body became cold and he shook so hard that it was difficult to stay upright.

'_It's going to be alright… alright,_' Naruto repeated to himself, '_the only reason Kyuubi couldn't feel anything was because he was out of it, yea, he's been sleeping all day, he's too tired to tell.'_

Without so much as a minutes pause in front of his door Naruto grabbed the handle and yanked. Hard.

"Sonofabitch! He locked the door? Goddamnit!" in too much of a hurry and panic to call the landlord up to unlock the door for him Naruto whipped out a kunai and started frantically cutting the hinges and lock off of the door. He didn't have time to pay attention to the few of his neighbors that were home coming out into the hallway as he threw himself against the door again and again until it broke open.

Naruto leapt up off the ground and whirled around, quickly inspecting the room.

"Sasuke? Sasuke where are you?" suddenly the blonde spotted the sort of pile of splintered wood on the floor by his couch and rushed over to it thinking that Sasuke had been tired after a small bout of destruction and was just taking a nap. He wasn't.

With the couch being bare and there being no sign of Sasuke in either the living room or the bedroom, which he could clearly see into from where he stood the blonde panicked again. He wildly searched his mind for anyplace the Uchiha might be hiding.

Naruto paused unexpectedly, keeping completely still as fear churned in the pit of his stomach. It was almost a mix between a gurgling sound and a moan that had grabbed his attention. Naruto bolted through the house, holding no regard for the vases and books that toppled to the floor as he flew by. Merely in passing the blonde noticed the scribbled upon notepad and the pile of money but it meant nothing to him, as far as Naruto knew Sasuke had just left his money there while he was taking a shower or something.

"Sasuke!" he stopped dead in his tracks upon entering the kitchen and an uncontrollable shattering panic consumed his mind. Naruto dropped to his knees as tears spilled from his wide unseeing eyes, frozen in place, he screamed at his body to move but his muscles wouldn't listen to his brain.

There in the middle of the floor lay Sasuke, face down in steadily enlarging twin pools of deep crimson blood that originated from his wrists. Naruto could clearly see the black and blue splotches covering every inch of his skin and hear the sickeningly soft sound of the man's life slowly leaving him.

Naruto was brain-dead; he could neither move nor think so as one can imagine it certainly wasn't Naruto who sprung into action. "Naruto" ripped two strips of cloth from his robe and wrapped them securely around Sasuke's slit wrists, immediately analyzing the wounds with experienced red eyes and knowing immediately that they needed to get to the hospital.

As "Naruto" gently gathered Sasuke up in his arms the raven wheezed and lazily opened his bloodshot eyes, his lips moved quickly before Kyuubi silenced him.

"Shut up and go back to sleep kid, Naruto's not here right now but he'll be there when you wake up."

"Naruto" glanced at the large pools of blood and the welt on Sasuke's head from falling onto the floor and frowned, '_how the hell was this kid still awake?'_ on his way out of the apartment – making sure not to hit Sasuke's head on anything – "Naruto" picked up Sasuke's notebook and took it with him, Naruto would probably want to read it later just in case… in case Sasuke didn't make it.

X

'_What do you mean I fell asleep? I would never fall asleep when Sasuke was in so much trouble!'_ Naruto raged at Kyuubi, the demon had gotten them to the hospital and Naruto was sitting in the waiting room when he "woke up".

'Okay, maybe _asleep_ wasn't the right word… you checked out, as soon as your mind was in shock I took over because I knew you weren't going to be able to do anything about it.' Naruto groaned and covered his face with his hands. 'You should sleep kid; you've been awake for _hours_.'

"I can't sleep," Naruto mumbled, "seeing Sasuke on the floor like that… the image is burned onto the insides of my eyelids."

'Well if you're not going to sleep I might as well tell you what he left for you.'

Naruto arched a golden brow in confusion, "he left something for me?"

'Yea,' said Kyuubi, 'I'm surprised you didn't see it when you got in the house. I put it in your robe; it's still on the page he wrote on.'

Naruto immediately dug the folded notebook out of his pocket and scanned over it with his eyes which watered and spilled over, smudging the ink and soaking the page.

'_Dear Naruto,_

_I know I've been nothing but a burden to you since I came home but don't worry; I won't cause you problems anymore. Thank you for taking me in even though you didn't want to, and thank you for staying my friend all these years. Maybe now you'll be able to forgive me._

_Sasuke'_

"Is that really what he thinks?" Naruto finally choked out, "That I didn't want him? That he was causing me trouble?" he shook his head and gripped the notebook in his hand as though it was the last piece of Sasuke he had left, and for all he knew it very well may have been.

'And that's not all,' Kyuubi interrupted his host's depression, 'when I got to him he was talking.'

Naruto perked up, "Talking? Tell me what he said!" everyone else in the waiting room turned to him after his outburst. Naruto looked away and lowered his voice, "what did he say?"

'He said something that really didn't make sense. He said "I'm sorry, Hinata"'

Naruto's eyes widened suddenly and he growled a low feral sound in the back of his throat as he stood abruptly and stomped out the door.

'Kit, calm down!' Kyuubi warned as red hot chakra leaked off Naruto's skin, 'if you don't get a hold of yourself you might lose it and kill someone!'

Naruto leapt down the flight of stairs outside the hospital door, shattering the concrete and shaking the earth as he landed. His eyes bled bright red and Naruto began to change.

"I want to."

**Author's note: Hmmm, is this another cliff hanger I see on the horizon? Thank you for all you kind, uplifting, and inspiring reviews but alas I must ask for more! More I say! I'm not planning to let this story end any time soon but I need your thoughts opinions and reviews to keep the rusty gears in my mind turning. :3**


	10. Chapter 10: Rage

**Author's note: Yea, remember when I said I wasn't going to let this story end anytime soon? Well, I didn't lie I just got a bit sidetracked for, oh, three months or so and was unable to write… sorry.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto blah, blah, blah…**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 10

Rage

It didn't take long for Naruto to zero in on his prey what with his heightened senses due to the raw demonic chakra emanating from every cell in his body.

Neji, Tenten, and Lee were where any self respecting shinobi would be on a day of fair weather; they were in a place that was very much open and the perfect location for a good bloody fight, the training grounds.

Silently, so as to not be seen, Naruto watched the team's meticulous training from the trees. It definitely made sense, the evidence pointing to the team that is. The fact that Sasuke had apologized to the dead cousin of the Hyuuga man who had allegedly died during a fight with one of Sasuke's old allies was verification enough in Naruto's mind. Neji had done this, and Neji would be the one to pay the price.

The blonde's scrutinizing eyes evaluated Neji carefully as he sparred with his girlfriend. In any other situation Naruto would have had serious second thoughts about challenging the Hyuuga with the deadly woman around but now, if need be, he would take her down just as ruthlessly if she got in his way.

As the demon possessed boy watched the two shinobi spin 'round and 'round in their deadly dance he was able to see that whenever Neji delivered a blow with his right arm it would retract immediately back to his side as though to protect a point of weakness that, at the moment, had no armor to cover it. He was going to make a point to use that weakness in the impending brawl. His jaw tightened as eyes that glowed in the shadows narrowed; he was ready to strike.

'Stop! Wait! You need to keep out of the way until the other two are gone!' Kyuubi screamed in the back of Naruto's rage-clouded mind. Lucky for those on the ground the demon had enough control over its host's body in such a state to keep it stationary, if only for a moment.

Naruto growled, _why the hell should I? You _know_ it was two of them so if I take out more than just Hyuuga it'll be the other bastard too! I'm attacking, now!_ He tensed to leap from his perch.

Kyuubi frantically kept his hold on Naruto's body, 'What if it was the girl?' he shrieked, not wanting his host to get in more of a bind than necessary afterwards. 'Are you going to kill her too?'

Naruto grinned, "Only if she wants to die."

This wasn't like Naruto at all; Kyuubi kept silent for he knew there was no changing the blonde's mind now. All he could do was hope he had enough control when the time came to keep Naruto from decapitating his former friend. The master Kyuubi had known recently was new, never before had Naruto been cruel or demanding or scheming, and he would have never thought of harming any of his friends no matter what they had done. He would have defended them to the death on the off-chance that they were actually innocent. It used to be all sunshine and smiles with the blonde and, to be honest, that was the way Kyuubi liked it. But, now, with the object of Naruto's affections back in the picture he didn't smile as much as he used to and was always so deep in thought. Even though Naruto would never hear Kyuubi say it directly, he was worried.

As soon as the demon relinquished control of his limbs the blonde dropped through the leaves like a stone, making sure to mask his chakra to the best of his ability. Having surprise on his side would definitely prove useful. He started towards them immediately, not to talk about the incident but to jump right to the good part. Neji knew what he'd done, he didn't need an explanation.

All three members of the team turned to him when they heard Naruto's heavy footfall and the blonde growled when all of them dared to smile at him as he approached. He grinned back, but it was not like theirs, his smile was more one of the lion before it took off chasing the gazelle and as everybody knew, the gazelle was always caught.

Tenten waved to him and skipped forward. "Hey, Naruto, what are you doing out here? I didn't think Lady Tsunade was letting you out of the office anymore."

Naruto shook his head. She was so guilty he couldn't stand it; if he even opened his mouth what he wanted to say would come out and blow his cover. He glanced a Lee who had an uneasy look on his face and sighed, Lee practically belonged to Sakura… even if he had taken part in what was done to Sasuke he would go before the fighting started.

"Lee, Sakura wants to see you, she said she was going to be at the hot springs." He had to fight to keep his voice level as he banished bushy brows to the other side of the city so that it would be impossible to hurt him and impossible for him to sense the aura of battle.

At the sound of Sakura waiting for him Lee was gone in an instant. Then, Neji took a step forward.

"What's going on Naruto? We haven't seen you in a few days… is Sasuke-kun doing all right?" When Neji spoke his face barely moved like he was trying to keep it still, it was as though someone had hit him.

At the mention of if Sasuke was doing "all right" Naruto could feel the rage boiling up in his throat. He calmly took the last three steps towards the Hyuuga and slammed his fist into Neji's face.

The man grunted as he crashed to the ground and immediately he was sitting up with a horribly worried Tenten by his side. She pulled at his arm with wide eyes and shouting.

"I told you he would find out! C'mon let's go!" but she was completely ignored. Neither of the men registered that she was even there as she screeched at them to not fight and to talk it out. Neji shook her off of his arm and stood up, glaring at Naruto with a smirk on his face.

Naruto grinned back.

"So the kid told you what I did." he put a bit of an emphasis on the word "I" to keep the blonde's attention from Tenten. "That's pretty infantile of him don't you think? It's like being in preschool and tattling to the teacher when someone shoves you on the playground. What a snitch."

A deep growl erupted from the back of Naruto's throat. "You _know_ Sasuke had nothing to do with Hinata! It wasn't even one of his that killed her!" at the mention of his lost cousin Neji's face contorted with rage as his fists clenched at his sides.

"What the hell would you know?" he screamed, "You weren't out there on the front lines with the rest of us! You don't know what happened; you stayed behind in your fucking office while our friends were _killed_ out there! Did you even know you were just sending all of us to the slaughter house like a bunch of animals or did Lady Tsunade tell you that everything was alright? It wasn't! We were being _killed_ –!" Neji was forced to stop short because Naruto was suddenly in his face, sharp claws enclosed around his neck before Neji even knew he was there. Immediately the blonde slammed him into the earth with all his might, shattering plenty of his opponent's bones and creating a six food diameter crater in the training grounds at the same time.

Neji gasped desperately for the breath that had been forced out of his lungs and grabbed at Naruto's arm to no avail, there was no way he was letting go now.

The demon host leaned in close to Neji's ear as the terrified shinobi struggled to get away. Naruto chuckled darkly as Neji's eyes widened, he had just spotted the single orange chakra tail behind Naruto's back that was quickly forming into two.

"Well, Neji, instead of taking it out on him, you should have come to _me_."

X

Naruto booked it over the rooftops from the training grounds to the hospital, he'd left Neji just barely alive and Tenten there with him as a witness to what had happened. He even almost regretted threatening the girl that if news of their fight got out to anyone or if Neji ever had a bone to pick with Sasuke again he'd come back and "spar" with her next time.

The faster Naruto ran the more of the raw demon chakra leaked back off of him and to its original source, Kyuubi, who at the moment was not really speaking to his host. Soon enough Naruto was back to normal, and good thing too because Lady Tsunade would be in the hospital with Sasuke and she could tell if something was wrong by how high his chakra levels were.

Naruto wondered if Sasuke would be able to tell if something was wrong. Would he even be awake when Naruto got there? He'd been gone far too long talking sense into Neji and Sasuke may have woken up without the blonde there to see him, how would he take that? Naruto pushed himself to run faster assuming that if Sasuke woke up and Naruto wasn't there he would think himself abandoned and run away again.

Naruto was not about to let that happen but he couldn't move any faster than he already was. He'd been injured in the fight too, well, not really injured as more hindered in his ability. Using so much of Kyuubi's chakra drained the energy right out of him and if it were not for the fact that he needed to see if Sasuke was alright _now_ Naruto would be balled up in a corner sleeping somewhere. As the blonde continued to run his eyes drooped and he began to swerve around, leaping on and off of buildings that were not in line with the hospital.

He was only able to wake himself up when a plank of wood smacked him in the face, or a couple wooden planks. Naruto never would have thought it possible to fall asleep while running but he definitely had, crashing face first into someone's home. He apologized for the damage and kept on going leaping out the nearest window and down into the streets to make sure he didn't destroy any more buildings.

But sleep was not the only thing obstructing Naruto's eyesight. The tears threatened to spill out even now, Naruto still could not believe that Neji could be such a heartless monster, the man had known full well that Sasuke had not idea about what had happened to Hinata and even if he had told him the Uchiha would have sincerely apologized.

_Because that's the kind of person he is now,_ Naruto thought.

He'd been more than sad when the news of the main branch of the Hyuuga clan's daughter reached his office, it was devastating. Hinata had been one of Naruto's biggest supporters after Sasuke left him and when he always said he wanted to become Hokage, not to mention professing her love to him more than once. He hadn't wanted to send her out to the front lines but for some reason she wanted to go, now Naruto realized that it was because she had wanted to fight for him to prove to him that she could protect the village too, just like he did. Naruto also knew now that Neji hadn't attacked Sasuke to get back at the raven but it was to crush Naruto that he'd attacked the object of his affections. A low blow by any standards but apparently Neji had no problem with that.

Naruto knew that he needed to show the others who Sasuke really was by example. He wasn't going to give in to people like Neji who wanted the Uchiha to go because of the things he'd done in the past, Sasuke was going to stay, and however long it took for Naruto to help him win back their trust he was going to stand by his friend and do anything he possibly could to help.

_Don't worry Sasuke; I haven't given up on you just yet._

He arrived at the hospital and pushed through the doors.

**Author's note: Okey dokey then. I guess this is it for chapter ten, sorry for it being so short but there wasn't much else I could do with the story for this one… sorry. Anyway, next time will be much better and I will update as soon as possible so as to not abandon you guys again, sorry about that.**

… **reviews por favor?...**


	11. Chapter 11: Reality

**Author's note: So many people asked me to update soon that I just had to do it today. ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me blah, blah, blah…**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 11

Reality

_It's so hard to move here, why is it so hard to _move? Sasuke clenched his jaw and flexed his muscles hoping to be able to at least lift a finger, but nothing changed except for the shooting pain that stung his body. He forced himself still and clamped his mouth closed to muffle a pained cry. As he lay motionless the Uchiha almost panicked until he remembered what he was doing and what was going on. Oh, that's right. He was dead.

He was dead and it was dark. So dark that Sasuke couldn't see, or he didn't want to, he dared not take a look at what was around him for fear of what might be there.

_Even though I'm dead,_ Sasuke thought calmly, _nothing's happened. The devil must be waiting until I wake up to deal with me._ If it was true Sasuke knew he would keep his eyes closed forever. Never seeing where he'd gone whether it be heaven or hell, Sasuke'd plunged himself into a self imposed purgatory.

_It's not like I can move to run, and it's not like I'll _die_ anyway so I won't do anything. The only problem is it's too heavy here,_ he thought. The immense crushing weight that pressed down on every inch of his body equally was too much for him to fight against, all Sasuke could do was tense his entire body to keep from being crushed and the pain of eternally broken bones if he was.

_It's for the best,_ he thought again, hoping that if he said it enough times it would become true. _Naruto'll come home and be happy; he'll go on with life normally as if I had never returned. Its's best for him… and it's what's best for me._

Much to Sasuke's dismay his throat tightened up at the thought of a smiling Naruto when Sasuke's body was discovered, he needed to believe that he'd done the right thing by setting Naruto free but couldn't let go of the feeling that he'd thrown away the only thing he'd ever loved. He'd thrown away Naruto.

As tears welled up Sasuke's eyes screwed shut, even in death he didn't want to show weakness, he wouldn't! He just… couldn't.

A choked cry escaped the raven's lips as a single tear rolled down his cheek. He groaned in agony as others followed, pouring out around him and soaking into the darkness until he felt like he was drowning in them. Sasuke held his breath and clenched his jaw again, the pain was just too great, the pain that went along with the knowledge that he'd done wrong in his depression. Naruto would be destroyed and it was all Sasuke's fault! If only he'd sat still until the blonde got home. The pain was nothing that one man should have to handle alone.

From a dull sting to a burning sensation, Sasuke's pain escalated until it felt like a million buzzing wasps encircled him stinging repeatedly from every direction. He opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out and no air would come into his lungs, and suddenly Sasuke was panicking. He was dying! The raven's mind went blank and nothing existed but worry. He needed to escape, to escape and get away… to survive.

Suddenly Sasuke felt himself struggling against the darkness that threatened to engulf him, and pushing back on the pressure of death. He would not let it have him now, no, not today.

His body tossed and turned infinitely lashing out at some unseen enemy and screaming to anyone who wasn't there for the help he could not receive. To Sasuke it seemed like an eternity before he could make sense of things again, what he was doing and with one final paroxysm on his part, he finally jerked into an upright sitting position. His eyes snapped open to madly survey his surroundings as cool air wafted down his windpipe and into his lungs and the smell of peroxide and chemicals momentarily stunned him. He was prepared for anything when he opened his eyes, but this wasn't hell. It was a hospital room.

Sasuke's first reaction was to cringe at the pain in his right hand that gripped the sheets beneath him with such a force that it definitely could have shattered bone.

_That's right,_ Sasuke thought, _I broke it._ As memories flooded through his mind a dull pang of regret and fear rang in his chest, but he shoved it aside when he felt something move against his leg. Slowly, Sasuke looked down towards the movement, what he saw making him throw his face into his hands and scream in agony.

"I knew it! This _is_ hell, I'm already dead! And Naruto –" he peeked through his shaky fingers at the spiky ball of yellow hair resting at the side of his bed.

Naruto was sleeping, breathing softly with his head resting on Sasuke's shin. That was the weight he remembered feeling, it was Naruto.

"Naruto." Sasuke reluctantly reached out a hand as though he needed to make sure that what he was seeing was actually there. He gasped as his hand made contact with the man's fluffy blonde locks, it was real, Naruto was there waiting for him to wake up.

More tears spilled down Sasuke's face and he choked on the words he tried to say.

_No, this _is_ hell,_ he thought, _why else would _he_ be here? They must be trying to torture me, making me face him again like this._ Sasuke ruffled the blonde's hair and smiled sadly.

_But what if it's not? Could this be what's called a "second chance?" I may be dead already but someone up there must really like me._ He tilted his head back and mouthed a silent "thank you" to the ceiling before looking back down at the blonde who was all but purring under his touch.

_A chance to tell him how I feel before I move on, how nice._ Sasuke thought then he frowned. _But it would be better if I could actually tell him, if this was truly real._

The room was fabricated; the pain he felt was a hoax, even the tubes penetrating the pale skin of his forearm must have been a farce. Nothing in this world was the real deal and Sasuke was perfectly okay with that as long as he was here and so was Naruto.

He leaned in as close as he could despite the burning pain in his midsection that threatened to hold him back. Even though Sasuke'd killed himself on a whim he wasn't stupid, he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity this good.

"Naruto," he whispered. Sasuke didn't want to wake him up unless absolutely necessary, if he _could_ be woken up, "I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of during my life, and I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you. But, please, don't let any of that distort your memories of the way we used to be before I fucked it all up." He took a shaky breath and continued, determined not to cry anymore. "I was so happy when you agreed to take me in; even after everything I've done you still wanted to take care of me. I just want to say one thing to you before I go, and I honestly wish that you could hear me say that… that I love you."

Sasuke just sat there for a moment, basking in the glow of all his worries being permanently lifted from his shoulders. He'd said it; he'd actually done the impossible, the right thing for once in his life. He sighed contently and closed his eyes; completely surrendering himself to the darkness that he was sure would overtake him at any second. But that second did not pass.

"Sa… suke?"

_What?_ Sasuke's eyes snapped wide open and he stared in horror at Naruto who stirred softly on his leg, he was waking up! No, how was that even possible? This wasn't supposed to be happening!

The raven immediately flopped back down on his back hoping that when Naruto woke up he wouldn't remember a thing; he would assume he'd been dreaming and not trust a word of Sasuke's confession.

_It's not death, I'm not dreaming,_ Sasuke thought, he wasn't sure if he was excited or scared; _it's a real second chance! I'm alive! I'm really alive!_

Sasuke forced his frantic breathing steady and stilled his body completely, the less he shook now the less Naruto would suspect when he finally opened his eyes. The only thing he couldn't keep off his face was a tear and a smile as he settled comfortably into his bed.

_I'm alive_.

X

"I love you."

"Sa… suke?" Naruto was dragged back from sleep at the sound of the raven's voice in his ear. Had Sasuke woken up while he was sleeping?

The blonde sat up in a woozy stupor and yawned, stretching and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before turning his attention back to Sasuke. He was laying the exact same way he had been, sleeping on his back, devoid of life, cadaverous. He must have dreamt hearing Sasuke's voice.

Immediately Naruto looked at the heart monitor on the bedside table. It registered that Sasuke still had his own heartbeat that beat slowly but surely, and telling Naruto that Sasuke was going to live. That is, if he ever came out of the coma.

It had taken seven hits of the defibrillator before Sasuke took his first breath. After the first three his chances had looked bleak, later on Shizune had told him that they'd never saved a patient past that. Naruto cringed as he remembered the empty look in Sasuke's wide eyes when he'd come in to see him the first time after the blood transfusion. The man looked like he was already too far gone but the heart monitor told him otherwise every time he heard it beep as Sasuke's heart thumped out weak uneven pattern.

He loved that damn monitor, but there was nothing either it or the doctors could do to wake Sasuke up now. They'd all told him that the raven only needed time now. But Naruto'd given time, all of his time. Every moment waking and not since his confrontation with Neji was spent at Sasuke's side, helping the doctors feed him and changing the sheets of his bed every single day. Naruto was sure the doctors found his constant presence a nuisance but he wouldn't leave until Sasuke's eyes opened again even if it was years that passed them by instead of the weeks that already had.

As Naruto gazed into Sasuke's sleeping face he slipped a hand beneath his and held it tight. It happened all the time, that when Naruto saw the serine look on Sasuke's face and the slight smile on his pale lips he could not look away. Sasuke looked so much younger when he slept; free of worry, free of anything that would make his colorless face look anything except for absolute perfection.

Carefully, he brought the hand up and pressed it to his forehead, praying to any god out there that might be listening that Sasuke would come out of it soon. Naruto didn't know if he could hold on much longer without landing himself in the bed next to Sasuke's. He'd been unable to feel anything for a few days now; Naruto no longer felt hunger or thirst. He didn't need to get up and walk around or to talk to anyone, all he needed was to be at Sasuke's side, because when he was there the hole in his chest closed up a little and he wasn't so lonely anymore.

Naruto wanted to cry, but he didn't have any more tears for anything. They'd all been spent during those first few days when he moved his entire life to the two man hospital room, every time he'd look and see Sasuke just laying there he'd burst into tears, sometimes scaring the nurses into thinking that something was seriously wrong with him as well.

He just stayed there with the back of Sasuke's hand to his face, just listening to his heartbeat on the monitor and breathing in the raven's unique scent.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there in time, Sasuke." Naruto said.

Suddenly he froze cold. Blue eyes snapped open and became bright again when the sensation returned to Naruto a second time, he looked up at Sasuke then back at the hand in his. His finger had twitched twice!

Naruto shot up onto his feet immediately when the hand lifted up out of his only to drop limply back to the bed.

"Guys? Guys, he's waking up!" Naruto called out the door frenetically.

He leaned over the bed and placed a hand on Sasuke's cheek, the cold skin stung his hand but Naruto didn't care. He leaned in close as others filed in from the hallway to surround the two.

"Everyone back up! Give 'em some room!" Tsunade shouted angrily as she batted shinobi aside until she was standing right next to Naruto who hadn't even noticed any of their presences.

The blonde absentmindedly stroked Sasuke's cheek with his thumb as he stared anxiously into the man's face.

"Sasuke?"

Then everyone stopped moving, Naruto held his breath as the raven's eyelids blinked open quickly again and again before finally closing and opening slowly as he awoke from his slumber. The first thing he saw was –

"N – Naruto?" Sasuke reached a hand up and placed it over Naruto's, reveling in the smell of his skin and how warm it was on his face.

The two gazed lovingly into the other's eyes, sharing a moment so intimate that the others around them felt the need to look away as it seemed as though they were intruding on something they were not meant to see.

They could both feel it; the love that they had for each other was all that there was between them for that moment. Naruto looked into Sasuke's eyes and all he saw was anguish and confusion while what Sasuke saw in Naruto's… was hope.

After a long while Sasuke looked away. "What's… what's going on?" he turned onto his back again to see everyone else who was in the room. Sasuke gasped and tears filled his wide eyes as his met with the faces of the entire rookie nine along with their Senseis all crammed into the tiny room to see _him_. These were the people that Sasuke had been convinced hated him ever since he stepped foot in the village during his return. Every one of them held in their hands either a teddy bear or a bouquet of flowers and balloons that read "get well soon" and "thinking about you" were tethered up all over the place.

Suddenly Sasuke's hands flew to his face as he erupted into a fit of tears. None of the bystanders said a thing as Sasuke bawled into his hands except for Naruto who reached out and removed the man's hands, keeping them from covering up his face.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked worriedly, "What's wrong?" his eyes searched Sasuke's face for any sign of pain or discomfort, but all he found was the smile that broke through his tears as the raven shook his head, grabbed Naruto, and wrapped his arms around his neck.

"I'm alive."

**Author's note: Whew! Here it is, that took some kind of time to write today. Once again I'm sorry that it's so short, I'm just getting back into writing after such a long time ditching my work.**

**Oh my _God_ you guys are the best! Thank you thank you thank you for all the wonderful reviews and for sticking with me even though I've been a butt and have been ignoring you… -_-**

**Reviews? Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like, tell me what you'd like to see happen next. I'm always open for suggestions! ;)**


	12. Chapter 12: Confession

**Author's note: I woke up at five A.M. to write this chapter because I couldn't stop thinking about it all night… *bows* enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me… whatever… blech.**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 12

Confession

"Can I really go home? Or are you just saying that?" Sasuke glared critically past the nurse who changed his bandages at Tsunade and Naruto. His eyes narrowed and he frowned, "Because that would be a cruel joke, even for you _hag_." Tsunade flipped him the bird and a steady stream of expletives before Naruto cut her off.

"Sasuke, don't get worked up like that! You're going to wear yourself out." He whined, Naruto shoved the nurse aside and pressed a hand to Sasuke's forehead looking for a fever. When he didn't find what he was looking for he sat down on the edge of the bed and slipped his hand into Sasuke's, "Are you feeling alright?"

The Uchiha nodded, "So can I go home or not?"

"Well, since you're still sick you _could_ stay here as long as you need but I'd prefer you get the hell out of my hospital. My best nurse has trouble even coming in to work with you around." A grim sentiment came over each party at the thought of Sakura who'd come in to see Sasuke and Naruto a few times but mostly kept to the midwife's ward on the other side of the building.

"Don't worry, she'll come around." Naruto assured, smiling at Sasuke who still had a sour frown on his face. He'd been worrying about Sakura since he woke up; in the three weeks that followed his awakening the girl had only shown up at lunch time to bring Naruto a bento before leaving right back to work.

Sure, Sasuke had broken and re-broken her heart over the years but wasn't she over that? Hadn't Naruto told him that she was getting ready to ask Lee out? Then perhaps her problem was that Sasuke'd left such dark scars that she couldn't help but to remember them when she saw him, maybe his brutal mistreatment of her feelings had a permanent effect on the way she saw him. At the thought of such a thing Sasuke shivered.

"I'm only clearing you to live on your own because I know you function better in your own atmosphere. Of course there will still be Anbu watching your every move and I'll have a shinobi over every week to check your progress, or, how you've been dealing with society up until that point." Said Tsunade, "If you want to go I will assign some shinobi that don't have a problem with you to help you move and make the house suitable for human life…"

_Wow, I'm actually getting to go home,_ Sasuke thought in wonderment. He was under the impression that when he returned to the village the Hokage would have her thumb on him the rest of his life. He shot a glance at Naruto who grinned at him from the edge of the bed. _I wonder who persuaded her to change her mind._

Sasuke had seen what he'd done to Naruto by injuring himself firsthand, for at least a week it was Sasuke playing doctor for Naruto. It had been a challenge to get him to eat again and to leave Sasuke's side for a second to take a damn shower but Sasuke'd done it, and was pretty proud of himself for it.

_I know I can't leave him again, for all I know he'll jump off the same cliff I jump off of when the time comes._ Sasuke couldn't help but be overjoyed with the fact that Naruto would follow him anywhere if it meant the best friends being together there. _If I actually _did_ go back to my own home I would still be able to see Naruto whenever he wanted and I wouldn't be close enough to be able to hurt him at all… alright, then it's decided._

Sasuke stuck out his bottom lip for a mock pout and crossed his arms over his chest, "Well it's about damn time you let me go home, that's all I wanted from the very beginning." He glared at Tsunade for a moment, surprised that hers was a face of disbelief rather than one of relief. He saw that she wasn't even looking at him and followed her line of sight to Naruto and immediately regretted opening his mouth at all.

The blonde had frozen stiff, halted completely in the act of reaching for Sasuke's hand. His blue eyes were bright but the light that could usually be found in them was clouded over with a plethora of emotions Sasuke could not identify. Naruto looked as though he were about to burst into tears, his mouth hung half open and he stared straight into Sasuke's eyes but there was no way to tell if he was actually seeing _anything_.

With a broken voice that Naruto struggled to keep a calm hold on he said, "Didn't you want to stay?"

Sasuke's mouth dropped open immediately in an attempt to explain himself but no words would come out. Had he given Naruto abandonment issues as well? Oh, why did he have to open his stupid ass mouth without thinking of what he said would do to him? All Sasuke could do was just sit there fumbling for the words he wanted to say but still unable to actually say a thing, he did want to stay, he wanted to stay at Naruto's house because it was warm and comfortable and familiar and that place… that place was home.

_Dear God,_ Sasuke thought,_ what have I _done?

X

_Geeziz! How many boxes were there in that storage unit?_ Naruto thought begrudgingly as he carried in a particularly heavy one filled with weapons no doubt. He set it down on the kitchen bar and whipped the sweat off of his face with the back of his hand and sleeve, sitting down for a well earned rest.

They'd been moving all of Sasuke's things back into his home all day, and there was still over half of the storage unit left to go as well as cleaning the house!

_Well, maybe if Sasuke would let anyone else help this whole process would go by faster._ Naruto thought. That's right, it was just him and Sasuke moving everything back into the ancient compound. And addition to having to move all the heavy boxes to their respective rooms Sasuke insisted that they clean the house from top to bottom as well. _And maybe if he wasn't so allergic to dust this would go faster, and if he didn't have so much stuff, and if he didn't need to move at all…_

Naruto sighed, breaking his careful train of thought and layed back on the couch, closing his eyes. He'd pretty much come to terms with the fact that Sasuke was moving out, it was just that the first time he'd heard it had shocked him. He sincerely thought that Sasuke was comfortable where he was, "If it's what he wants it's what he'll get, whether I approve or not."

Despite the idiotic front he always put up Naruto would have been a brilliant actor in any other place or time. He'd shown Sasuke ten times over that he supported his decision to move out of his house and even went so far as to seem like he was happy about the change even though his feelings were quite the opposite. He just didn't want Sasuke thinking he'd hurt him again by doing what he wanted, honestly, Naruto didn't know why Sasuke worried so much about that now. No one's feelings had ever stopped him from doing what he wanted before.

_No! Stop that, he wasn't right back then. Everything's alright now, Sasuke's home and that's all that matters._ Naruto rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. _I shouldn't think about things that would suggest otherwise._

But he did know of something else that mattered, something that was so horribly important that thinking of it had consumed more than enough of Naruto's time until then.

The blonde shook his head and pressed his hands over his eyes trying to banish the thought from his mind. They'd talk about it later, later! There's no reason to bring it up now it'll just make him mad! Naruto found himself tossing and turning so violently that he rolled right onto the floor.

For a moment Naruto lay still as a grin spread slowly across his face and he burst into a sudden fit of rapturous laughter. He rolled onto his stomach and put his hands in his face again to keep down a blush.

"He said he loved me!"

Sasuke _had_ said it just before Naruto woke up from his nap, it wasn't a dream and he definitely wasn't hearing any voices other than the one he always heard. The only reason Naruto hadn't called Sasuke out for pretending to regain consciousness a few minutes later was because there were other people around and Naruto had forgotten everything about it as soon as the raven opened his angelic eyes.

Body still racked with laughter, Naruto got up and back to work. Now all he had yet to do, other than finish getting all of Sasuke's things inside, was to confess to him as well and they would live happily ever after as the underdogs. The lucky ones. Forever together in bliss.

Or as long as forever would last.

Another heavy box went to its own dusty room again and again, so on and so forth until Naruto was completely finished.

Now, Naruto, hoping to at the least take Sasuke out for a celebratory dinner to commemorate his getting his house back hurried back into the house after sending the driver away.

_This occasion calls for something a bit more special than Ichiraku, maybe he'll let me take him to a high class restaurant. Of course then if we do go we'll have to go shopping first, I don't think I saw a single suit in all of those boxes… Sasuke in a suit…_ Naruto grinned as his eyes glazed over with fantasies of Sasuke's perfect body packed perfectly into the black package of a suit just for him, how Sasuke would look in formal gear, and how he would look taking it off at the end of the night.

The blonde stepped into the living room and looked around, nope, no Sasuke here. Same went for the dining room the family room and seven of the innumerable amount of bedrooms and bathrooms dotting the house. He finally stopped in what he'd assumed was Sasuke's room and cupped his hands to his mouth.

"Sasuke? Where are you? You're gonna have to tell me, your house is too big!" he paused and listened for a moment but didn't get an answer. He called again and again with no avail, wherever he was Sasuke couldn't hear him.

Suddenly, Naruto panicked. The last time Sasuke hadn't answered him… he'd been dying that time. What if Sasuke was in trouble again, how was Naruto to ever find him in such a house with so many rooms and wrong ways to go.

The blonde became frantic and took off in a dead sprint into the hallway upon hearing the echo of glass shattering in some distant room.

"Sasuke? Sasuke where are you? Answer me!" it was only the sound of the crashes one after another that finally led Naruto outside and down the wraparound porch until he'd made it to a pair of large wooden double doors. He didn't waste any time wondering what he would see but shoved them right open.

"Sasuke?" he gasped and immediately rushed forward to where the raven sat on the ground in a pile of glass shards. Blood seeped out of his feet as he strode over the bed of glass, but Naruto approached the raven regardless. Sasuke was facing the wall away from him with his knees pulled up to his chest and his hands pressed over his ears as though to block out half of a conversation he didn't want to hear.

"Sasuke are you alright?" he placed a hand softly on his shoulder and tightened his grip when Sasuke tried to jerk away.

Sasuke removed his hands and looked up at the worried look on Naruto's face. "I – I wanted to put the vases on the shelf but I… I dropped them."

_It looks more like you threw them to me._ Naruto thought, he crouched down next to the Uchiha and wrapped his arms around him.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong, I'll know if you lie to me." He said that last part quietly, not wanting to offend the raven, but instead of getting mad Sasuke buried his face in Naruto's shirt to hide the fact that he was already crying.

"I can't be here anymore, I – I just can't!" he wailed, "Every step I take I can _hear_ them, my parents… my brother… I can't live in this place, Naruto; I think I'll go insane! It's like they're still here, every one of them, my brother telling me he'll be there for me, my parents telling me to do better. Even that night! I can _hear_ them, Naruto, I can…"

Sasuke turned to look behind them at a black spot in the center of the room that had been long since stained into the wooden floor before shoving his face back into Naruto's chest, nearly knocking them both to the ground.

_This is his parents' room? Why the hell would he come back here, didn't he think this would happen?_ How was Sasuke going to get over this one?

The raven laughed a sickly laugh and hugged himself tightly, "What was I thinking coming back here? Did I really think they wouldn't haunt me even now? It was me; I killed them, all of them…"

_No way, he can't blame himself for the deaths of his parents. And why the hell should he care if Itachi died? That bastard deserved it! No, this needs to stop now, stop blaming yourself for everything; it's not your fault!_

Naruto lashed out, capturing the raven's face in his hands and before either of them really knew what was going on his lips crashed recklessly into Sasuke's. This was the most pleasurable way Naruto could think of to get Sasuke to shut up and listen to him.

"Stop it." He ordered, "I don't want to hear you say anything like that ever again! You have no idea how much it hurts to hear you hating yourself like that! I _forbid_ you from ever saying anything bad about yourself again."

"But why –"

"Because I love you Sasuke! I've always loved you and I'm pissed that it's taken this long for me to be able to tell you, but you have to understand Sasuke. I haven't left your side and I won't ever because I can't live without you there, I love you… so much, and I know you love me too. I heard you say you loved me in the hospital." The blonde's eyes searched Sasuke's desperately for some sign that he'd finally gotten through to him that there was someone who was there for him, someone who cared, one person who would never leave him.

"Sasuke… say you love me, please, I need to hear you say it." Naruto reached out and took both of Sasuke's hands in his and kissed the lightening scars on his wrists, "Please."

Sasuke had been stunned and afraid at first. Naruto had heard him confess in the hospital? What the hell.

_Well, cat's out of the bag, there's no going back now._

Suddenly Naruto gasped as he was thrown onto his back on the glass shards and the floor. Sasuke tackled him to the ground in a kiss that held every last shred of loneliness and need the raven had held behind the scenes since he recognized what Naruto really was to him. He kissed Naruto's face and mouth with finality, the blonde was his now. Naruto belonged to Sasuke now and forever, there wasn't anything better he could possibly ask for.

"I love you too, Naruto!"

**Author's note: There, I managed to make this one a bit longer but it's still short in my eyes, sorry. Anyway, for some reason this chapter was very hard to write for me, I had to hold back pretty far to keep from spilling everything for the rest of the story right here, haha.**

**Reviews por favor? Me gusta mucho los reviews!**


	13. Chapter 13: Ready to Love Again

**Author's note: Hehehe! Ya'll are probably gonna hate me for this! X3**

**Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me… #%&$%!#!**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 13

Ready to Love Again

"Ouch!"

"Sorry… ooh, sorry!" Sasuke cringed as Naruto winced beneath him.

"Ah! D-don't pull it out so fast, it _hurts_!" Naruto shoved his face into one of the couch cushions to muffle a scream. "Damnit, why'd you have to get it stuck in there so deep? Ahhh!"

"Sorry!" Sasuke apologized for the umpteenth time, "It won't happen again, I promise, just stay still and let me do this."

"Yea, like fun this'll happen again! Next time you decide to shatter glass all over the floor _you're_ carrying _me_ to the other room – ouch!"

"Shaddup." Sasuke muttered as he carefully yanked another bloody shard of glass from Naruto's back. Now that he thought about it Sasuke realized that throwing Naruto onto his back in a room full of broken glass wasn't really the best idea. But Naruto _had_ saved him and Sasuke definitely planned to return the favor some day, not with the same magnitude of course because Sasuke was sure Naruto didn't have anywhere near the same problems that he had.

Sasuke shuddered as he plucked a particularly large shard from under Naruto's shoulder blade.

"Owww, Sasuke!"

"Sorry."

The experience in his parents' room had been horrifying. He should have known the second he stepped foot in there that he wouldn't be able to stay long, but since he had gone through Itachi's room mere moments before he'd gotten brave. Sasuke thought he could handle it and when he was wrong the consequences had been catastrophic.

When he opened that door again he was eight, watching his older brother slaughter their parents without so much as the blink of an eye, only this time instead of running he'd forced himself forward. Step after step, one foot in front of the other Sasuke had bitten the bullet and forced himself into the room, very careful to not step on the blood stain in the middle of the floor.

It was the vases, the vases that now lay broken and shattered in the garbage can that had taken him there. They were Sasuke's parents' last anniversary gifts to each other, and he knew they would want them to be returned to their room.

He'd done well up until he tried to put the vase on its shelf. All Sasuke could have done was watch in horror as it shattered on the ground, that is when it started. The voices ringing in his ears again and again screaming of his uselessness and proclaiming that he should have died, one less clumsy body to take up space. He'd apologized again and again but there was no one there to accept them, his brother and mother weren't there with him anymore to tell him that everything was going to be alright. That it was just a little storm, and that it would all be over soon.

Sasuke came back to reality and looked down at where he was sitting perched on Naruto's lower back with a red stained towel full of glass in front of him.

_Yes, that's right, he told me it was alright,_ Sasuke thought as he pulled out the last shard of glass, _it was always Naruto._

He smiled softly and got up off the couch and taking the towel with him to shake it off in the garbage can.

"There, all done."

Naruto got up as well, careful not to get too much blood on the white couch and put his shirt back on.

"Great! Thanks, Sasuke, I never would have been able to get those things out by myself!" the blonde grinned and crossed the room to where Sasuke was, putting his hands out on either side of Sasuke and trapping him against the wall.

"You know what else I can't do by myself?" Sasuke blushed as Naruto's hot breath brushed against his neck, "go. On. A. date."

_Damn, I thought he'd forgotten about that!_ Sasuke thought.

Naruto asked him out on a date, a real date for just the two of them at some fancy restaurant downtown on Hokage reservations. And Sasuke had declined.

_I just don't think Naruto knows how bad it could be for him if people see us together in public much, let alone on an actual date! He knows as well as I do, it's damn near illegal to be gay in this city!_ Sasuke had thought. And he was right, when people like Sai started coming out not many of the other citizens had been very keen on the idea, though, there hadn't been any riots or protests… yet.

"So? Waddaya say? Let's go out." Naruto leaned in for a kiss but instead of Sasuke's lips he was met with the raven's hand.

"I-I just don't know if that's a good idea Naruto –"

"Why?" he whined, "what's there to think about? I told you I loved you didn't I? And you told me you loved me, so let's go!

Sasuke frowned, would it really be that bad to have a date with Naruto? _No, I suppose not._

"Alright, we'll have a date, but we can't go out." Sasuke had assumed the blonde would have a problem with that as well, Naruto would want a night on the town to show his new boyfriend off to anybody who would give them the time of day, or rather, the time of night.

"Great! I know this nice little place we can go, you don't mind that it's in an apartment building do you? Oh, of course you don't, maybe you've heard of the place. It's called Chateau De Naruto."

X

_It's too itchy, and it smells funny… I don't like it._ Thought Sasuke scornfully as he tugged nervously at the starchy neck of his brand new dress shirt. He regretted the moment that he'd agreed to let Sakura take him shopping to fix his lack of proper "formal wear." _Hn, at least she isn't mad at me anymore,_ he thought.

It was Naruto's idea actually, for Sakura to take him shopping. It was mostly because Naruto had gotten excited and wanted to be surprised when he showed up in a suit.

The girl had dragged him all over the mall, every store that could have sold suits and plenty that didn't were what he was forced to hike through. He was even forced to follow into a lingerie shop because Sakura had accidentally met up with Ino who was looking for something new for a hot date with her boyfriend later on.

But the excursion wasn't all bad; Sasuke snorted a laugh as he remembered lunch with Sakura and Ino in the food court. The girls had generously paid for his food and had been updating him on everything that had happened since he'd "fallen asleep" when a huge sticky glob of pre-chewed food slammed into the back of his head.

Sasuke had told the girls to ignore the table of immature shinobi behind him but Sakura was already all over the situation. She'd sworn at them once just as they nailed Sasuke again.

"They really shouldn't have done that." Ino had told him, "they're about to wish they'd never been born."

And wish they did, as well as pray and beg as Sakura leapt over the table and "took care of the problem," he hadn't actually seen what she'd done to them because Ino'd turned him away from the carnage to clean the food out of his hair. But he knew it bad by the way they screamed.

He chuckled lightly; he might actually be starting to like Sakura.

But Sasuke's light mood was gone as soon as he saw where he was. The raven looked up to see a door in front of him, but not just any door, tacked barely below the peephole was a crudely carved wooden sign.

_Welcome, to the Chateau De Naruto._

_What an idiot,_ Sasuke thought, then he smiled, _but that idiot is my idiot._

He whipped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve, creating a very obvious sweat stain on the white fabric. Why was he so nervous? It was just Naruto wasn't it? Naruto, who knew more about him than anyone he'd ever known, Naruto, who loved him.

Sasuke reached out a shaky hand and opened the door, immediately frowning at what he saw.

Naruto sat at a table at the center of the room speaking with the "waiter" and "waitress" who expertly lit two candles for the table and set them down. As soon as they spotted Sasuke the "waitress" strode confidently in her frilly black and white outfit over to him and held out a hand for the suit jacket that he hadn't even bothered to put on.

"What are _you two_ doing here." Sasuke growled as he shoved his jacket into the girls' arms.

Sakura giggled and hung it up on a hook by the door, "You don't expect us to let you guys serve yourselves do you?" she eyed the stain on Sasuke's sleeve and clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

Sasuke glared at her as Naruto stood up and motioned to the table where he would be sitting and the raven moved to join him, but before he could make it his seat Naruto had him locked in a hug.

"You look so sexy in that," he whispered heavily in Sasuke's ear, "I can't wait to take it off later."

Blushing furiously, Sasuke shoved the blonde off of him, "Knock it off! There are other people!"

"Oh, don't mind us at all," Sai waved his hand dismissively, "just go on with your business like we aren't even here."

Sasuke smacked the palm of his hand to his forehead and groaned, "Fine."

The couple sat in silence as their servers ran back and forth from the kitchen getting food and utensils with which to eat it. Sasuke arched a dark brow when Sai came in with an oblong bottle in a bucket of ice. He stopped next to the table and bowed slightly to his two "customers."

"Tonight's wine is a fine Campus Oaks Merlot aged to perfection in our very own winery." He kept a straight face as he poured the sweet smelling red substance into two identical wine glasses before setting them on the table in front of each man. "The Chateau De Naruto sincerely hopes that you enjoy your meal." Then he disappeared back into the kitchen where Sasuke could hear both he and Sakura giggling like a couple of school girls.

Sasuke felt like scowling but he was too perplexed by the drink. He took a sip expecting sparkling cider and wrinkled his nose in disgust, setting it down immediately.

"You're not twenty-one, where'd you get real wine?"

Naruto laughed at the face Sasuke made and sipped his own, "What, you don't think that being chosen to be Hokage has its perks? Like Sai said, I have full access to everything in the mansion, even the wine cellar. No questions asked."

Shaking his head, Sasuke sighed and gulped down his first glass, "You could get in real trouble for that, you know."

Naruto just shrugged and slurped up another spaghetti noodle, _what's up with him and noodles?_ Sasuke thought, but he didn't say anything else.

An hour passed and Sasuke was getting more nervous with every second. He had no idea what all Naruto had planned for the night and had been trying to figure the blonde out ever since he first walked in the door. Right now Naruto was doing everything he could to keep the raven talking about everything and nothing, of course the wine wasn't hurting the situation either.

Apparently Sai had been given orders to never let Sasuke's glass become empty, for as soon as Sasuke'd finished his drink Sai was there re-filling it again.

_He's trying to get me drunk,_ Sasuke thought, _and I _think_ it might be working._

Sasuke had to blink vigorously for a moment to regain equilibrium so that he saw one Naruto sitting in front of him instead of two.

_I know what you're trying to do,_ he thought.

Suddenly Sasuke held up a hand and slammed a fist on the table.

"Stop." He ordered, he then leaned across the table and gazed at Naruto from beneath lowered eyelids, "You know, you don't need to get me drunk to get me to have sex with you, Na-ru-to."

Naruto froze and held his hands out in front of him in defense, "No, Sasuke, I wasn't –" his sentence cut short as plates of food and glasses full of wine clattered to the floor. Sasuke had climbed up onto the table and grabbed Naruto by the collar, forcing their lips together. Naruto gasped in surprise and Sasuke took the chance he was given to shove his tongue into the blonde's mouth.

Naruto groaned and threw his arms around Sasuke's neck, pulling him closer and deepening their kiss.

"Sasuke," said Naruto as he brought his face away from the raven who was still kissing every inch of skin his lips could reach, "we can't do this here!"

"Why not?" Sasuke slurred as he sloppily licked Naruto's ear, "It's _your_ house." his fingers busied themselves with unbuttoning the front of Naruto's shirt until it was in a small pile on the floor with his own. Sasuke's hands pushed on the blonde's chest, shoving him back in his chair far less than gently as Sasuke climbed down from the table to straddle his waist.

As his talented mouth lapped at Naruto's throat hungrily Sasuke ground their hips together while his hands kept Naruto from moving away.

"Hnn, ah! Sasuke –" Naruto moaned, "Let's – ahh! The other room!"

Sasuke halted his attack momentarily and shook his head, "No wa-ay Na-ru-to, I'm gonna fuck you right here," the raven unzipped Naruto's pants and slid a hand beneath the supple fabric, "whether _you_ like it or not."

**Author's note: Oh God! I'm probably going to get chewed out by one of my friends for leaving off like this and not writing you a steamy sex scene for the ages! Aaarrrggghh! I just can't dooo it!**

**Oh well, maybe next time.**

**Reviews? Momma likes reviews.**


	14. Chapter 14: Humble Pie

**Author's note: Well, since the school year is quickly bounding closer to the end of my sophomore year I am just going to go ahead and wrap this shit up as soon as I've written the last chapter (though I don't actually know when that will be…) so I can focus on homework and stuff.**

**I plan to take down _smoke and mirrors_ soon and I'm going to recycle the title for some more yaoi-esque purposes, so after it's taken down and re-started ya'll should check it out. It might be better than this one. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I trust you know the drill by now?**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 14

Humble Pie

_Why the hell would he call me out here in the middle of the day like that? And no Anbu on my tail to boot!_ Sasuke thought, puzzled.

That morning everything had been fine, Sasuke and Naruto both woke up normally enough and got ready for work without so much as a word about any sort of special occasion. The only thing the blonde had done different today, Sasuke remembered, was give him a kiss that was approximately one second longer than the last one.

_That couldn't mean anything, could it?_ Sasuke thought, _this had better not be another one of those fucking special dinners for my _accomplishments.

Sasuke shivered and contemplated turning right back around and going back to work but he knew that Naruto would just track him down and drag him if that's what he wanted.

The dinners Sasuke'd thought of were a fabrication of Naruto's diseased mind. Every third Saturday of the month Sasuke was either taken out to dinner by or given new freedoms by the Hokage and her perspective student. The whole thing had been going on for half a year, a whole six months with Naruto coming up with inventive ways to force him out on dates.

_Fucking fantastic,_ Sasuke thought sourly.

If only Tsunade didn't have to be there, then Sasuke wouldn't have such a problem with the celebrations, but she was. And that wasn't even the worst part! Going anywhere with Naruto and Tsunade was like going on a date with a guy _and_ his mom!

Whenever the lady Hokage was around Naruto couldn't hold Sasuke's hand, they couldn't kiss at all, and heaven forbid they sit next to each other in a restaurant! That would be a most unforgivable travesty.

Sasuke grumbled a string of curses as he entered the building and started up the stairs, and then he noticed all the eyes on him. It was less frequently as of late, that Sasuke noticed other shinobi sizing him up as though he could be a danger to them now.

_Ha! Me a danger. Yeah right,_ Sasuke deadpanned as he started straight ahead and kept on going, if he stopped to pick a fight with one of them he would be late to see Naruto.

Although, none of the other shinobi knew that is where he was going.

Every time Sasuke entered the building their eyes would be on him in fear and animosity but its not like he could blame them. If he'd known himself well a year ago when he was completely rogue Sasuke would probably be afraid of him as well.

"Good morning lady Hokage, Naruto." Sasuke bowed slightly when Shizune opened the great wooden doors of the office to let him in.

The woman leaned listlessly against the back of her seat with her arms crossed over her chest as she glared Sasuke down with a superior aura about her. She grunted a greeting and shifted uncomfortably to better leer at him. Naruto grinned across the room at his unofficial boyfriend and motioned for Sasuke to come in.

"You'll never guess what baa-chan's got for you today Sasuke! It's fantastic! You can go on –" lady Tsunade slapped a hand quickly over the man's mouth and Sasuke smiled softly at his bubbly blonde, whatever it was he knew now that it was good.

"why don't you let _me_ tell him Naruto-chan?" asked lady Hokage sweetly, the gooey quality of her voice in that instant made Sasuke wonder what kind of relationship Naruto really had with his mentor. Sometimes the hag damn near acted like Naruto's mother.

She'd removed her hand after an affirmative nod from the blonde, "you tend to sugar coat things a bit."

He_ sugar coats things?_ Sasuke thought in mild amusement, _you sound like you just started weaning the guy off a bottle!_

Sasuke smirked at his own odd joke.

"What are you smirking at?" Tsunade shapped harshly.

"Nothing ma'am, I just remembered something funny."

This answer seemed to satisfy the woman as she sat up a bit and leaned over the mahogany desk, not bothering to move all the paperwork on it that was becoming wrinkled.

"Well then, now we can get down to business. Sasuke it's recently been brought to my attention that you have been exceptionally well behaved over the past six months. Due to multiple reports of your helpfulness in a multitude of tight situations, as you know, you were slowly regaining some of the liberties of a true Konoha shinobi. Now, in light of those reports and… other things, and, against my better judgment mind you the brat somehow persuaded me to let you use jutsu."

Sasuke's eyes widened as his breath hitched in his throat, his jutsu? Seriously? Suddenly the raven found that he was angry, not at Tsunade but at himself for being so untrustworthy. He didn't want the use of his jutsu; things were going so perfectly without it! All jutsu would do is give the other shinobi a reason to distrust him again, give Naruto a reason to doubt him.

He opened his mouth to decline but Naruto beat him to the punch.

"The only conditions baa-chan talked about were that you have to go on a few d-ranked missions with me first, and guess what? Those missions are today!" Sasuke could see the blonde bouncing excitedly in his chair like a small child on Christmas morning. This only made him dislike his new freedom even more, but nothing could be said about it because it made Naruto happy.

Sasuke sighed and nodded slowly. "I understand, may I have the mission folders to study before I go?"

"Unnecessary." Tsunade spat venomously, "Naruto already has them. You and he will head out to your first assignment immediately." She looked towards Naruto and nodded in approval as if to say, "Go on, you dug your own grave now go lie in it."

Naruto shot up and jogged across the room, linking arms with Sasuke and dragging him towards the door.

"C'mon Sasuke, you're gonna love this first one –"

"Actually, hold on a moment Naruto." Both men turned back to the Hokage whose chin rested on laced fingers. Her elbows sat lightly on the edge of her desk. To Sasuke it looked like she was teetering between two very bad outcomes and weighing her options.

"A moment Sasuke? Go on ahead Naruto; he'll meet you at the house." Naruto nodded, still grinning wildly and exited shutting the door behind him.

Naruto was gone, leaving Sasuke alone with a most likely enraged Hokage. Even if the arrangement was only for a moment Sasuke knew he wouldn't get out of this without some kind of emotional scars.

He dug the toe of his shoe into the hardwood floor nervously and coughed to try and hide the fact that he was scared stiff.

"Come here, Uchiha, sit down." Sasuke gulped and did as he was told, the silent rage radiating from the woman scaring him far more than she had when she'd shattered her previous desk. He vaguely wondered if Naruto would be angry with his mentor of she tried to poison him or something.

He calmly approached and took his seat.

"What is it that you wanted to discuss ma'am?" Sasuke asked meekly, knowing all the while that if he even slipped up one little bit she could send him to hell. Sasuke's mind was not so calm though.

_Now look here _woman_._ He scolded internally, _all you could possibly do now is waste the time I could be spending with Naruto! I didn't _want_ my jutsu back and I definitely didn't want anything to do with talking to you so wrap it up already. Get finished yelling so I can get back to Naruto before he starts worrying!_

Sasuke merely folded his hands in his lap and intentionally avoided her gaze.

"You know Naruto is like a son to me," she started, "and like any good mother I want nothing more than for him to be safe and happy, but for some reason my _son_ doesn't want safety. Yesterday he told me he wants _you_."

Sasuke's eyes widened, he'd only told her yester day when they'd been "dating" for six months?

"Now, I know I can't lock him up his entire life to keep him safe but I _can_ eliminate anything that I think may pose a threat to his well being, Sasuke, that threat is you. I can honestly say that I have never loved nor admired one of my students as much as I don Naruto, and I'll have you know that if he ever comes to me injured at all, one hair on his head out of place," she paused to let it sink in a bit, "and I will exercise my _full_ authority as Hokage of the hidden leaf to see to it that you never walk another step without my Anbu so far up your ass that you won't be able to take a god damn shower without me knowing!"

Godaime finished in a piercing yell with her face mere inches from Sasuke's as she was leaning all the way across her desk now.

Sasuke gulped again and fought to keep his entire body from shaking.

A sweet, caring smile broke across her face.

"Have I made myself clear Sasuke-kun?"

"Y-yes ma'am"

X

"That was awful." Sasuke shuddered despite the heat of the day as he and Naruto stumbled on to their final destination. "I had no idea bees could be so vicious!" Sasuke's brother had always protected him from anything even remotely harmful.

Naruto scowled and scratched the stings on his neck. "You didn't think that hitting the hive with a kunai would make the _bees angry_? What kind of rock have you been living under?"

Sasuke glared at his companion and Naruto suddenly realized the err of his ways and refused to meet the raven's gaze.

"Oh, right, the Uchiha one." He mumbled the very last part, assuming that since his raven was already in a bad mood he would get hit if he said anything more. "But you don't need to worry about any more of that today –"

"And why not?" Sasuke snapped, "We still have on more mission to accomplish don't we? Or are you already ditching your job?"

Naruto disregarded Sasuke's comment and smiled softly as he pointed ahead of them. "Just trust me; I come here all the time."

Instead of laying out another impressive array of witty comments Sasuke's eyes followed Naruto's finger to the decrepit structure that stood before him and gasped. The place was built into the wall surrounding the Uchiha district of the city, carved into the brick.

"When the hell did this happen?" he shrieked, not because he was angry but because he was ashamed of not knowing about this when he had already been home for half of a year.

Naruto looked away sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Well, the old place burned down so I kind of forged your signature to commission them this corner. Since you weren't exactly using it I assumed you wouldn't really mind." He chuckled to try and lighten the mood as the crude doors opened before them.

"What is this place?" Sasuke asked. The shudders hung from the windows and paint splintered in the most odd of places, even the glass of the windows which was watery and stained gave the place an air of deformity and decay. He'd thought it was an old folk's home gone wrong, or perhaps a place for the homeless to go.

The blonde grinned as he was swarmed by a sea of tiny bodies in raggedy clothing. "It's an orphanage of course!"

The children, toddler and teen alike, expressed their joy at seeing their friend. Some of the younger ones were swinging from Naruto's arms as he was able to support six at one time. The ones still running out called for his attention and some of the younger ones even started crying when they couldn't get close enough to give the blonde a hug.

And Sasuke just stood off to the side, mystified.

_The blonde turned my home into an _orphanage?_ That's so… so nice of him I'm really awful compared to that_. Sasuke pouted as he could feel himself being humbled by the blonde's selfless acts, weakening and becoming soft as one of the toddlers tugged at his pant leg.

"Hey, misser, what's yer name?" her tiny toothless grin and long umber pony tails melted what was left of Sasuke's cold heart and he stooped down to her height.

"I'm Sasuke, what's your name?"

Before the girl could answer the question she was batted aside by the other children who wanted to get a peak at their new guest. And soon enough Sasuke was pinned to the ground, children all speaking at once and crawling all over him.

"Go play inside children! Mr. Uchiha and Mr. Uzumaki will be in shortly!" immediately they were gone, hundreds of little feet beating the ground in a race to see who could make it to the front door first.

Sasuke rose to thank his savior who turned out to be the elderly patron of the institution. The old woman had been taking care of children in this building and the previous one for over thirty years since she could have none of her own. She thanked Sasuke profusely for the use of his home.

"No, it's not a problem at all. Actually I would rather you use an actual house than part of the wall." This launched her into a whole other round of thanks. Sasuke shot a glare at Naruto who shrugged.

"Hm, why didn't I think of that?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes as the woman showed them inside, she insisted in showing Sasuke around their makeshift home, Naruto not too far behind.

"What's our mission here Naruto?" Sasuke asked uneasily, if Naruto answered with anything along the lines of fighting the children he would quit on the hidden leaf for good this time.

"We just play with the kids until it's time for them to go to bed. I remember when I was a kid I always loved it when old man Hokage stopped by, he was always so much fun."

Sasuke suddenly stopped in his tracks, "When you were a kid?"

"Yea," Naruto shrugged again, "this is where I grew up more or less until old man Hokage took me in."

Sasuke's jaw dropped, Naruto'd grown up with a hundred other kids in someplace like this? It was unacceptable! He just couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes, Mr. Uzumaki was my little trouble maker for so many years." The old woman smiled and threw an arm around Naruto's neck, "it's just so nice to know that one of my boys has made it so far after leaving this place."

The blonde smiled and motioned to the kids who started to gather around.

"And I want the very same for all my brothers and sisters, that's why I'm here!"

Then Sasuke smiled, he definitely knew now that his brother had been right in telling him to put his past behind him and return to the village, there was nothing more he could ask for, nothing more he could find away from it. As Naruto socialized with his "siblings" Sasuke sat by and watched, captivated by the raw love radiating from his blonde's every word and action.

"You don't really seem like a toddler type of person." Sasuke started and turned to see the old woman standing behind him with a pink bundle in her arms.

Sasuke chuckled and shook his head while glancing back to Naruto who was playing leap frog with the kids.

"Not really, I usually end up covered in some foul smelling substance that's hard to get out of cloths."

The old woman smiled and extended the tiny blanket towards him, "Here, try this one, she's our newest arrival. Poor things only a few months old."

Warily Sasuke took the bundle to cradle in his arms; at first it was awkward until he figured out how to support the head with the crook of his elbow. Absentmindedly he bounced the sleeping girl as he spoke in hopes of keeping her comfortably asleep.

"What's her name?"

"We don't know," the woman admitted sorrowfully, "her parents were killed just outside of the walls, caught in the fighting, poor things. She hasn't got parents or a name…" she paused for a moment, "would you like to name her?"

Sasuke looked up shocked, moving just enough to wake the baby. She began crying in his arms and reaching out, and as soon as Sasuke was finished being shocked he offered his hand to the child to amuse herself with while he addressed her "mother."

"You want _me_ to name her?" he asked with uncertainty.

"I don't see why not, you see she already likes you, you're a natural!"

Sasuke smiled down at the girl who sucked on his index finger and laughed to himself.

_I don't deserve to be this much to… Well, anyone! Wouldn't this make me her godfather?_

"How about… Mila?"

**Author's note: Oh my fricking GOD! That took forever to write and I have no idea why! I am truly sorry that I am late in updating and this chapter is rushed and very mucho bad y malo, but you know what will make me write better don't you?... _reviews_! Please and thank you!**


	15. Chapter 15: A Visitor from the West

**Author's note: Review. This. Chapter. PLEASE.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine…**

Sleepless Nights

Chapter 15

A Visitor from the West

"What the hell do you mean "Kazekage-sama is _coming over_?" " Sasuke set his jaw and made a conscious effort to stay calm so as to not upset Naruto who had been actually excited by the arrival of his mentor.

"Exactly what it sounds like, brat, Kazekage-sama is making a visit to the leaf to discuss the terms of the treaty with Godaime and since you have so much space here he's staying with you." Jiraya shrugged and took a seat without being invited into the house. "Tsunade's orders."

"No. I don't care what Tsunade said he _can't_ stay here."

Naruto, who was seated just on the other side of Sasuke, pried the raven's fingers out of the couch cushion lest he rip them apart.

"I would have agreed had she asked me before just forcing a guest on us. She should not have given our home like this." Naruto frowned at his mentor who refused to look him in the eye. The old man knew he'd done something wrong. Usually Naruto was more than happy to accommodate guests, especially Gaara, but since Sasuke was back in the picture there were a few issues to work out. Sasuke still didn't have much of a tolerance for people other than Naruto and the both of them remembered what animosity had bloomed the last time Sasuke and Gaara got together.

He turned to Sasuke, putting a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"I'll talk to her –"

"Good," Sasuke interrupted, "I'll not have that monster living in _my_ house. There's no telling what he'll do."

Recently Naruto had sold his own apartment and moved all his things into Sasuke's home. As the number of people who knew that the two were together grew Naruto became more and more lax about keeping their relationship a secret from others. Therefore they could do a few more things that were classified as "couple activities" even though Tsunade had made it clear that the majority of the population was not to know the truth.

"That… monster?"

Sasuke's head snapped to the side as he realized his mistake. Naruto's head hung a bit and looked as though we were going to cry. Calling Gaara a monster was as good as saying the same thing to Naruto.

_Apologize. Now._

The raven needed no more prodding from Kyuubi to know that he'd done something horribly wrong. He all but pounced on Naruto and pulled him into a hug.

Neither of them noticed Jiraya disappear in a cloud of smoke vowing to return later with their guest.

"I'm so sorry Naruto! I didn't mean it, you know I was just talking… right?" he gathered Naruto's face in his hands and kissed him, "Right?"

Naruto pulled away and used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his eyes and sat back on the couch, pouting.

"So… can he stay?"

Sasuke snorted to conceal laughter as he watched the adorable blonde across the couch. Naruto was still dabbing at his eyes while sitting cross legged and his bottom lip sticking out.

"Yea, he can stay. On one condition though."

Naruto glanced up from under his eyelashes cutely and sniffled. "What's that?"

Sasuke shoved the blonde down on his back on the overly fluffy couch and straddled his waist. The raven twirled his hips seductively grinding his ass on Naruto's growing erection.

"Have sex with me. Right now."

A groan from Naruto was the only form of permission he needed.

Sasuke's lips crashed into Naruto's and their teeth clinked together as one tried violently to gain control over the other.

Sasuke growled and bit Naruto's lip. "It's my turn, dobe."

Naruto complied and laid back allowing Sasuke to strip him of his shirt and giving him full access to Naruto's body.

The blonde sucked in a sharp breath of air as Sasuke tortured his taught nipples and Naruto's hands delved themselves into Sasuke's midnight black hair, tugging him up into a bruising kiss.

Naruto pulled away and flipped their positions. The blonde hastily unzipped his pants and tossed them to the floor before ridding Sasuke of his clothing as well.

The raven frowned, the only reason Naruto was going so quickly was because he didn't want Gaara to walk in on them. _Well that's just fine,_ thought Sasuke,_ but I hope he doesn't expect a quick fuck to be gentle._

The raven kicked his leg up intent on becoming top but Naruto had other plans. Starting at the base of Sasuke's neck he licked a path down his chest and abdomen, making sure to touch every plane of his pale skin and suck certain spots on the Uchiha that made him shiver and moan in pleasure.

The blonde gave Sasuke a foxy smirk before sinking between the raven's pale legs and giving his sex promising hips a quick squeeze before suddenly taking Sasuke into his mouth.

Sasuke had thought to ask Naruto exactly what he was doing but the exclamation ran into a groan of "Ohh… shit." As Naruto's head began to hurriedly bob up and down in his lap.

With both hands Sasuke held the blonde's head in place as he arched his back and squirmed at the sensation of Naruto's hot mouth around his throbbing member. The blonde swirled his tongue around the head quickly before swallowing all of the pre-cum that had gathered there.

The raven's moans directed towards the ceiling as he tossed his head back against the cushions. Suddenly all the heat pooled in his crotch became too much.

"Na-Naruto, if you, ahhhnn! Don't st-op I'm hnn! I'm gonna come!"

Naruto smirked around Sasuke's length, suddenly taking all of him into his mouth at once and purring huskily for Sasuke in the back of his throat.

The raven's toes curled and he arched even further off the couch as he came spurting hot streams of semen down Naruto's throat.

Naruto pulled away, cleaning up any of Sasuke's come he may have missed. The blonde looked up at Sasuke and licked his lips. His sexy raven stared back at him, eyes half lidded and breathing hard with a thin sheen of sweat covering his body.

Naruto crawled up to meet Sasuke face to face; sure to rub various parts of his body against Sasuke's eliciting more of those sweet moans from the raven's throat.

"Are you ready?" Sasuke shivered beneath him at the mischievously sexy tint to Naruto's voice.

"I thought I said it was my turn." Sasuke breathed. Naruto chuckled and reached behind him, grabbing the base of Sasuke's dick and squeezing. The raven jolted and moaned as he had not been expecting that at all.

With a quick lick to Sasuke's lips Naruto lifted his hips and angled the glistening tip towards his entrance.

"You're still so hard and after all that coming you did, how do you expect me to not do something with this?" with one final squeeze administered to Sasuke's length Naruto began to lower himself forcing the thick head into his unprepared ass. "Be gentle with me, Sasuke-koi."

Naruto stopped only when Sasuke grabbed his hips in an attempt to keep him from going down any further. The raven bit back a strangled moan before he could speak.

"You don't have to do this Naruto, I was just joking. We can do it after Gaara leaves –"

"This has nothing to do with him, now shut up and fuck me!" Naruto slammed his ass down, completely impaling himself on Sasuke's cock now rigid inside him. Sasuke nearly screamed in ecstasy as Naruto's anus seemed to be trying to suck his dick in and swallow it whole.

The blonde wasted no time trying to get comfortable with having something so big buried inside him. Despite the initial pain of his first penetration Naruto rocked his hips quickly causing Sasuke's cock to slide in and out of his ass at a delicious pace.

In response to Naruto's expert riding Sasuke bent his knees giving the blonde something to lean back on as well as shoving Sasuke's cock a bit further into the blonde.

Sasuke was in heaven. With every movement Naruto made he could feel every inch of the blonde's slick insides convulsing around him and relentlessly sucking and rubbing his dick. Above him Naruto shuddered and moaned as Sasuke's penis brushed against his prostate.

"Ohhh, Sasuke! Right there, do-don't stop – ahh!"

The raven reached out and laid Naruto on top of him wrapping his arms around the blonde and thrusting wildly into his partner, intent on making Naruto's first time as uke something he would remember throughout his whole life.

Naruto moaned and writhed on top of Sasuke, occasionally capturing the other's lips for a kiss only to be forced to pull away as another moan tore through his throat.

"I love you so much Naruto!" Sasuke's voice crescendoed as Naruto's muscles clenched around him and the blonde came violently on their chests and stomachs. A moment later the spazmatic fluttering of Naruto's anus caused Sasuke to come as well, his white hot essence filling Naruto to the brim and after a few weaker thrusts to ride out the orgasm both boys were spent.

Naruto gingerly lifted himself off of Sasuke and collapsed at his side, snuggling into the raven and nuzzling the crook of his neck.

"That was… amazing." Sasuke whispered. Naruto giggled and placed a kiss on the raven's cheek before closing his eyes.

"I love you Sasuke."

"I love you too."

Just as the two were succumbing to sleep the doorbell chimed across the room.

Sasuke shot up immediately. "Gaara's here!" the raven had expected Naruto to be more excited than he but the blonde pulled Sasuke right back down next to him.

"It won't kill him to wait until we're done sleeping."

Sasuke grinned at the sleepy fox and wrapped his arms around him.

"No I suppose it won't."

X

"You left me outside. In the rain. For three hours." A soaking wet and very much pissed off Gaara sat fuming on the couch on which only those three hours ago Sasuke and Naruto had just had sex. Sasuke snickered at the fact that Naruto had said nothing about it to the Kazekage.

Naruto, who was fully dressed once again bowed slightly to the Kazekage and shrugged.

"My apologies, I don't usually leave guests out in the cold I suppose I didn't hear the bell. And how was I supposed to know it was raining? I _was_ sleeping you know."

Gaara nodded towards Sasuke. "What about that one, could he have not opened the door for me?"

Naruto grinned and slipped his hand beneath Sasuke's. "Nope! He was sleeping with me."

The lovers giggled to themselves at the falsity of Gaara's charade, both could easily see that behind that languidly calm mask the Kazekage was smoldering.

**Author's note: There you go, the first smut I've ever written… it was a lot sexier while I was writing it though… -_- I've got nothing else to say but review, review, review. If you don't tell me what you think I can't make this a better experience for everybody involved. Please and thank you.**


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